Seda
The castle walls seemed familiar—cold and gray—as Seda rested on the black furs covering the bed. She curled up and brushed her hand across her face, wiping away tears that had unexpectedly fallen.
A door opened, and someone walked in. She tightly closed her eyes and dug her face into the pillows, feeling herself wanting to hide her emotions from them.
She felt the bed shift, and a warm hand rested on her shoulder.
“We’ll keep trying,” she heard them say.
A vaguely familiar sadness enveloped her, and she felt her stomach tighten as a cry erupted from her lips.
“It will never happen,” she choked out through muffled sobs.
She felt their hand tighten on her, and the shock that this person might also be upset made her heart fall even further into the recesses of her now-empty soul.
Then she heard her mother’s voice in the growing darkness, and a slightflare of love began to pulse within her heart. “Once upon a time, there was a magical Fae who wished to be more…”
Seda gaspedas she awoke and sat up in bed, gripping the emerald-green, silken sheets between her hands. The feeling of dread curdled deep within her. She frantically scanned her surroundings and relaxed when she saw Cahir asleep beside her, exhaustion evident on his face. The sheets had been pulled down, barely covering the lower half of his body. She watched the bare skin of his stomach muscles ripple, and his closed eyes move back and forth, as if lost within a dream.
They had stayed up late the night before, planning their trips with the others, and Cahir had insisted on staying awake as long as possible by her side. Kalon had not entered her dreams since the incident in the garden, and she wondered when the dreams of snakes would return.
Instead, she was having vivid dreams of unfamiliar things, unknown places, and unrecognized feelings.
What were they? Premonitions? Fear of things to come?
She lay back down on the bed and stared up at the glass ceiling, watching the green orbs and clouds float by, their pink hues drenched in the morning glow.
She shifted on the bed, and the sheets rubbed against her irritated back. She reached her arm around to scratch it through her nightgown, and pain flared through her.
She hissed as she ground her teeth together.
Cahir stirred next to her, and he opened his eyes, staring at her with pursed lips. “Is everything okay? Did you have a bad dream?” he asked as he quickly rubbed his puffy eyes and sat up in bed, returning his attention to her.
Was that a bad dream? It felt…sad. But nothing had happened to cause fear, and Kalon wasn’t there to torment her.
“No dreams of Kalon,” she replied.
He adjusted himself and looked at her, running his hands through her hair. “Your hair…” he started.
She looked down and lightly grabbed the section of it that had fallen over her shoulder. Glittering stands of white with iridescent purples and blues rested on her fingertips.
“It’s changed more,” she noted, dropping the strands when pain flared through her back once more. “Hey, can you look at my back again, please? It’s really hurting.”
He nodded, and she turned around, loosening the laces on the front of her nightgown and allowing it to slip free from her shoulders.
He gently brushed her hair away from her back and gasped, causing her to flinch when his fingers gently ran over her sensitive skin.
“What is it?” she asked, turning back to stare at him.
“Something’s growing out of your back. It…” He paused and chewed on his bottom lip.
“It what?”
He cleared his throat. “It’s…feathers.”
“What?!” She jumped out of the bed and ran to the vanity, turning around and looking over her shoulder into the mirror.
Glistening, black feathers, no larger than her pinky finger, met her eyes, and a soft gasp escaped her astonished lips.
