2
Ash
I gasp awake,my entire body coming alive all at once.
My heart skips a few beats and I try to rub the ache away deep inside my chest. The one that exists purely from seeing Sabina again.
Yet it’s her words that roll through my head, again and again and again.
“Why’d you torture Kade.”
The question in Sabina’s childlike voice. Haunting doesn’t cover it.
Maybe that’s why as my eyes flutter open it’s all I can think about.
Never mind my new reality awaits. I could be burning alive in hell right now and none of that would matter.
Except for Sabina.
My beautiful, chaotic, loving cousin.
And maybe that’s what finally gets me out of bed. Because if I lay here one more moment then emotions I’ve kept long buried may bubble up and up and out and I’m not sure that is something I can even face today.
So I get up. Blink away the haze of sleep only to see the endless color-scape of twilight outside the window.
The cool stone floor sends shards of ice through the soles of my feet as I wrap a dark robe around me.
I shouldn’t complain, my new quarters in the Unseelie Court are perfect.
If they were dipped in the Arctic, that is.
Despite the open windows and the ever-burning fireplace it’s beautiful really, my new gilded cage.
Wrapping the robe tighter I set to the window, letting the cool air wake me up further. Outside the purple and pinks of twilight extend as far as the eye can see.
It’s beautiful if you don’t look too close.
Resting my head on the stone, I watch the Dark Forest with its tall barren trees, where shadows move too quickly to be considered normal. Not to mention the creatures that dive up toward a full moon only to dive back into the cover of trees.
The Unseelie Court isn’t dark as I expected.
Where the Seelie Court is light and faux beauty, the Unseelie Court is its mirror.But it’s not endless night and a full moon. No, it’s twilight and sentient shadows.
A soft knock drags me from the moment. I step from my tower window and open the door. I know it’s Kestra before I even reach for the handle.
She shows up every morning. Same time. Has since the trials, over a month ago now.
Most days I look forward to our time together. Other days I share an unfortunate kinship with Kieran’s sister. And some? I just want to be alone.
“Ash?” Her soft voice filters under the door a moment before I open it.
She’s the perfect feminine counterpart to Kieran. Same sharp jaw, same ice-blue eyes, but softer somehow. Warmer.
“Morning.” The word comes out on a yawn.
“Oh, Ash, it’s so cold up here.” Kestra sets the tray of coffee down and rushes to the open window where she reaches out to close the shutters.
“The cold doesn’t really bother me.” I mutter the words before I can think better of it.
