She felt blessed, like the Stars themselves had granted her this. There was no limit, no rules or constraints. She was boundless; she was home, safe and secure in his unbreakable embrace.
~
Shackled in an abrupt and demanding upbringing, Althera is...
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Maybe she'd just conjured up the whole thing - a dream, if she willed it - though there was a sufficient amount of evidence to prove that the entire encounter with that creature and the discovery of the tunnel had all indeed been real.
The rose gaped blankly back at her, golden ridges glittering under the sunlight. She'd cleaned the blade as best as she could, scrubbing away the sour smell and remnants of black blood staining the steel, and wanting nothing more to do with whatever had attacked her. If she thought of it even for just a moment, it would bring up unpleasant thoughts and make bile rise up in her throat. She could still vividly recall that searing flash of light, the painful silence, and then darkness that suffocated her. And when she finally awoke from it all, she'd found the dagger grasped tightly in her hand.
She hadn't given herself a chance to tell anyone yet. Not that she was planning on it. The last thing she needed was someone telling her she was going insane, which seemed to her at that time a likely possibility. There wasn't anyone in the castle she could definitely trust.
As soon as she'd managed to escape that horrid place - she could still taste the terrible rot on her tongue - she flew for her room and somehow managed to find enough courage to fall asleep. Even if she did dream up some things, she couldn't remember what they were. After that night, she wasn't sure if she knew what the difference between reality and fantasy was anymore.
The shock she felt in the morning when she found herself wrapped up in the blankets of her bed was immense. She wasn't sure what had stopped her from escaping, and she had no intention of finding out. It didn't feel to her as if the reveal of the dungeon made a large impact on her decision. In fact, she was fairly certain it had the exact opposite effect - driving her with a new energy and more of a reason to flee. But she'd just stopped. Like neither the killing nor the meeting with the king ever happened.
It was still unnerving even now that she didn't know what had been in that cell with her. Mythical seemed like a rather good way of describing it, though there really wasn't anything mythical about it at all. Except for the unimaginable strength and speed of it. She'd miraculously managed to injure it with her dagger - barely, but it was still a wound - and there had been no different sensation when the blade pierced through its hide, or whatever covered its body. In truth, the creature actually felt rather human when the dagger sliced through it. It had been as if she'd dragged a knife through open, exposed flesh.
The hypnotic ticking of the clock rang in her ears as she stood, thrusting the dagger into the folds of her skirts. She hadn't felt like wearing anything bright and cheerful today, knowing her sour mood would never allow that, but with a little convincing from the part of her that was desperate for her to forget anything ever happened, she forced herself into an ivory gown decorated with floral designs of a deep sapphire. It didn't really stand out too much, and the voluminous, overlapping layers of the fabric did well enough to hide her secret weapon. Carrying it around with her did little to reassure her, but if she were to run into trouble again, she'd at least have something to defend herself with.
