"Lilith! You little sneak!" Her sisters laughed as she remained perched on the tree branch. She leaned down, grinning, her brown hair falling like a curtain in front of her beautiful face. Her blue eyes were gleaming with mischief as she stuck her tongue out. "I always win at hide and seek." "Yes, because you're a sneak!" Nesta said, fondly chuckling. She slid off the tree eventually to join her parents and sisters for dinner, laughing, carefree.
A few years later, she was hunting and killing, stealthy and quiet as a panther stalking after its victims. Nobody called her a little sneak anymore, nobody but that evil, traitorous voice in her head: and it certainly wasn't spoken with affection.
...
Kallias' hands trembled more than he'd like to admit as he held his daughter for the first time: she looked like the perfect mix of her mother and father, only warmer, sweeter, as if to signal the war was over: warmer days had come. She had curly blonde hair, some shades darker than her parents' and blue eyes- the ocean's shade, not the ice's.
Vivianne stood behind Kallias, her voice slightly wobbling as she looked at her- their child. "She's beautiful." She whispered, and harshly shallowed, trying not to cry. War was over- war was over, her family was alive, and nothing, absolutely nothing could go wrong anymore.
"We will name her Amelia. It means soft in Ancient Greek. And soft she will be." Kallias muttered, running his fingers over his daughter's cheek.
...
Two girls: one mortal and one Faerie.
Two stories, one ending.
Vel, an Oracle older than Prythian itself, visits the Autumn Court at the request of its High Lord. While there she gets swept up in the court's political scheming, with Eris trying to win her favor using any means necessary. But all is not what it seems and her visit is cut short by a bloody betrayal. Now, alone and afraid she must escape Autumn and get back home.
-
Perhaps she'd misjudged him and he was actually going to slice her open. Vel decided she wasn't going to stick around to find out. In the blink of an eye, she squeezed her palm between the blade and her neck, scraping most of the skin off in the process, and with her other arm she elbowed Eris in the stomach as hard as she could. The dagger clattered to the floor slick with her blood and Eris released her, stumbling a few feet back. She turned back towards him, palms up. Blood was pouring down her left arm, dripping into her sleeve. He'd already produced another dagger from Mother knew where and was about to throw it at her face.
"Wait. Eris. We want the same thing. We could work together if you would just trust me."
Eris narrowed his eyes at her. "Trust you? Do you genuinely think I'm simple?" he hissed out the words, trying to keep his voice low. "You want me to trust you when all you've been doing since you got here has been sneaking around and spying on us."