Reflections Of Angels

Daybreak

It was so quiet down in the kitchen in the early hours of the dawn, the sun slowly rising in the grey sky outside the window; so the sound of his footsteps on the stairs immediately drew Nyx's full attention.

"What are you doing up?" He asked, peering at her over the bannister.

"Oh my, you actually do come down early to eat." She chuckled weakly before giving a tired sigh, nursing a warm mug of coffee in her hands. "I couldn't sleep anymore."

Walking over to her at the table, he looked at her and his expression became one of concern; reaching out he gently took ahold of her wrist, lifting up her arm and turning it to look along it at the jagged red scratches that decorated her pale skin. Following them up her arm, he took in the same across her shoulders and chest and up the column of her throat. "What happened?"

"Well initially you said 'I'm sure you can handle it.'" Nyx replied dryly, mimicking his tone  before rolling her eyes.

"Oh..." He said, catching on; then looked inquisitive. "She did this?"

"She screamed for hours." Nyx moaned, putting her head in her hands. "I had to let her cry herself out in the end. I fell asleep on the nursery couch."

Crouching next to her, he put a soothing hand on her back, rubbing slow circles. "Nothing you could do to calm her?"

Pulling her hands away from her face, she turned to him with a scowl. "It's a bit difficult to calm her when she won't let me touch her!" Unexpected to both of them, she dissolved into tears.

He put his arms around her and she leant into him, sobbing quietly into the crook of his neck as he comforted her. "Come on." He said at last, taking her arm from around his neck to cradle it in his own, careful of her wounds. "Let's get these cleaned up."

***

They sat in silence at the table as he bathed her cuts with a bowl of warm water and a cloth; the heat soothing the stinging of the raw scratches.
After a while, Nyx broke the silence; her words very careful but unsure. "She's not... a normal child, is she?"

He looked up at her from under his brow with a wary pause, and slowly shook his head.

"I knew it." Nyx quietly spoke. "She's not well." Her expression was one of genuine sadness. "Poor baby."

"Come on." He said softly. "You're tired. Go back to bed."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not, you're exhausted."

"There's no point, I'm awake now."

"You're just sitting here drinking coffee, that's no more productive than going to have a rest."

"But it's morning."

He gestured upstairs with his head. "How long until she wakes up?"

"Um..." Nyx thought about it. "A few hours I guess? Assuming all goes well."

"Then you have time." He stood up and pulling her to her feet. "Don't argue for the sake of arguing. Come on, you'll feel better for it." He said, guiding her up the stairs towards her room.