Iwakeuptothefrantic rhythm of my heart.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
I flex my fingers around the dagger hidden under my pillow and try to scan the scantily furnished room I’m in.
My bedroom.
Through my blurred, sleep-hazed vision, I can decipher soft hues of yellow and burned copper creeping in, bathing the dull, white walls in an eerily glow.
It’s almost dawn.
I force my eyes to blink through unshed tears, struggling to focus on different objects.
One chair.
Two slippers haphazardly thrown on the wooden floor planks.
Three gilded belly chains hung on the dresser door.
Four books about self-defense techniques on top of the crummy nightstand.
I take one long, shaky breath, willing my lungs to work properly, before exhaling slowly, and repeating the process several times.
Grounded. I feel more grounded in the now.
“It was nothing. Just another nightmare.” I release another breath and relax against the wooden frame of the bed.
You’d think by now I should be used to waking up startled and confused, my brain foggy, riddled with the night terrors that torture me in a loop.
I groan and throw my arm against my eyes, shielding my sight from the emerging gilded rays that stream through the small window. I should still have a few hours of slumber until I’m needed at The Twinkling Meadow, the place where all Fae, mighty or common alike, convene for pure debauchery and unhindered rapture.
Yet the foreboding whisper of my grandmother still rings in my head. “Beware the argent hue, beware the sable depths.”
Not that godforsaken prophecy again!
Slowly, I get up from the small comfort of the sheets, and drag myself to the tiny en-suite bathroom. The gray stone walls do nothing to appease my gloomy mood, but hopefully a bath will chase the unwanted thoughts away. As if!
I sit on the edge of the partially green copper bathtub, and swirl my hand in the hot water, waiting for the bath to fill. I really should find the time to scrub the patina away before it swallows the whole tub. It’s looking more and more as if I’m bathing into a murky swamp. Not really the soothing experience I need right now.
“Just another shit start to another shitty day.” I sigh to myself as I sink into the scorching water, willing the warmth to relax my muscles and dispel the last remnants of my nightmare. But I’m too tense, my body rigid and aching, as if I’ve been runningall night long around town. Must be from all the thrashing and turning in bed.
When it’s clear that nothing is going to have the intended effect, I submerge myself completely and start counting.
One.
“Beware the argent hue…”
Two.
“It shall all start anew when blood weeping heavens…”
I clench my teeth until pain explodes in my gums. Get out of my head, Grandma!
Three.
“…And doom endured for all eternity.”
I let myself come up for air, drawing in my breath as evenly as I can muster right now. My grandmother’s words slosh through my brain as vividly as when I was a little child and she would recite the baleful divination every night before sleep.
