A Court Of Shadow and Blood

☆ Daughter of Velaris ☆

*TRIGGER WARNING: some content within hints at sexual abuse, and the rest of the story might hint at it too for future reference*

Eblis blinked against sharp light, the surprise of being let in so easily evident. Her mouth was agape as her gray eyes adjusted, and she flipped around to gaze at the mammoth granite wall she had just passed through. When she faced the city, she truly let herself inhale it all in.

A lemon-verbena and salt breeze replaced the tang of magic, filling her lungs like she had never breathed before, like everything before Velaris were a smog. If people noticed the fae woman gaping in the middle of the street, they didn't say anything. Because the City of Starlight was in full swing beneath the twisting dark sky.

Marble buildings with green copper roofs, classically and delicately decorated restaurants open to the mild night, sparkling bridges rolling over a river—she couldn't drink it in fast enough. A tear rolled down her sharp cheek.

This—this was home. Eblis was filled with the thought, so thoroughly swept away by it she could've fallen to the cobbled streets. She had forgotten what it was and what it looked like after so many centuries in the dark, an ocean away. Hadn't let herself remember it to the point where moments like this were fever dreams that woke her in the middle of the night.

Any tire had been wiped away, her gray eyes bright as she slowly took her first step into Velaris. She felt it a burden to wear shoes. It separated her bare feet from gracing the softly cobbled streets and the paved floors of the restaurants and the parquet of storefronts, from stepping through the river that was the heart of the city, that split it in two.

Eblis had forgotten what it was to see smiling and laughing faces full of mirth instead of evil intent, of hearing shop owners shouting their wares instead of their kills. No, for tonight, Eblis left the dark smudge of her past behind and stepped into a new canvas.

The fae woman tugged off the make-shift shoes of leather straps from her feet, toes gripping each cold stone as she launched into Velaris. Her hood fell back, blonde hair feeling weightless despite the weeks of grime and sweat that plastered it to her head, eyes vibrant in the carefully carved lanterns and beautifully swirled latticework of street lamps. The open doors of buildings released the scent of roasting meat, of spices upon spices she hadn't tasted in years. Centuries.

Her stomach gurgled, mouth watering as her fae nose caught the distant scent of hazelnuts, fatty meat juices, lemony accents.

But she stopped her floating around at a wide bridge that arched over the river. The Sidra, she warmly recalled, tracing the path it carefully wove to the distant horizon and further beyond to the ocean. If she listened close enough, she almost imagined she could hear the waves crash against each other, clawing at distant cliffs. The Sidra was what separated Velaris into quarters—the Palace of Hoof and Leaf, the Palace of Thread and Jewels, the Rainbow of Velaris, and where she had begun; the Palace of Bone and Salt, which harbored all the foods she could ever imagine. She surveyed all of these from her wide view atop the marble bridge spanning the Sidra before her eyes swept to the horizon.

The first fingers of sunlight gripped the night and bled into it, making the marble bridges and buildings glitter as if lit from within. Eblis rested her arms on the rails, staring into the calm water that reflected the sky. And she realized she was happy.

Truly happy.

***

The female floated between shop fronts and stalls, ignoring the bits of gleaming jewelry and finely crafted weapons from the Palace of Thread and Jewels before moving back to where she started. Each different scent of food from the Palace of Bone and Salt sent her stomach growling, mouth watering, and eyes rolling. One such stall was manned by a spindly fae male, skin an iridescent lapis color, the spokes of scales poking from him. He noticed her hungry stare and offered a roasted fish for free, holding it out to her with a warm smile.