Untouchable Fruit

Ranting and Listening

Briana's POV

     I pace around the floor as I wait for Artemis is come back to her room, anger and irritation counting through me.

    I wasn't able to hear the whole thing, but the audacity that man had to say a single word to Art makes me want to go down the stairs and force a branch so far up his ass, he'll be sneezing pollen for the next year and a half.

    I turn my head as the door opens and find Artemis entering the room, closing it tightly behind her as one of the twins stand guard outside of her rooms.

    "Artemis? What happened?" I ask her, full of worry now that she standing in front of me, and she begins pacing in the same fashion I just was, but her steps are angrier and faster as smoke begins to rise from her dress and I look on in awe and concern as she does.

     "That woman that likes to call herself my aunt, is the most disturbing piece of shit I've ever met. The way she so willingly gave me up and paraded me around those men as if I was nothing but a slab of meat made me sick." She says, her voice sounding like cackling fire and the sound of it makes my eyes go wide as I listen to it, never having heard her so angry or so hurt no matter what I've heard about her mother or aunt doing to her.

     "And then the men think that because they're rich or because my mother and aunt were nice enough to invite them to this... this breeding ceremony, they think they have aright to talk to me as if I'm nothing or touch me like I am their possession." Her cousin events louder and I watch as the smoke around her increases, though nothing is on fire yet.

   But I don't stop her, I let her yell and rant and scream and pace and get out the anger and hurt thats slowly weighing her down despite her constant struggle to get back up.

   "All I want is to become Princess. All I want is the respect and the love that I have worked SO hard for all my life that was given freely to people who did not do half of the shit that I did. But if I slacked or asked for a day off, I was the most cursed and laziest Princess to be in line." She stops pacing and turns to look at me and I see tears fall form her eyes but the moment they touch her skin they evaporate.

    "I am the Crown Princess and I have worked day and night and gone above and beyond what any Royal in this castle has done to secure the Crown and make sure that it doesn't get disrespected." Her voice gets quieter, but a flame appears around her head softly, though none of her hair burns, and I watch as the fire covers her hair in a blue shadow, the flame beautiful in a dangerous way.

     "You would think, that they would treat one of the most powerful people in the world with a little more respect, but all these people see is a fucking Incubator and I'm sick of it!"

    The last sentence makes her hair flame up and she stands there breathing hard with evaporated tears claiming the air and I slowly walk towards her.

    My steps are light and soft as I do, and while she's looking in my direction, I don't know if she can see me, if she knows that it's me, someone who cared whose coming for her. Her breathing turns shaky and I watch as her hair starts to die down and the fire disappears as I walk towards her. I get to the point where I'm standing in front of her before her tears begin to show up on her face and I reach forward with a finger to wipe it off. And while both her tears of sorrow and her face are still warm, she's cool enough for me to reach forward and place my arms around her softly.

     I hold her close, ignoring her trying to pull away from me and I can tell that she's trying to keep it together but I won't let her.

    I know how it feels to hold things in and internalize them, letting the turn into anger, but the root of it all is always some form of betrayal and such deep hurting pain that it seeps and lives in you until you can only express it by pure rage.

    And Art has so much sadness and betrayal
in her soul, this is the least of anyone's worried about terms of blowing up.

   With her pain and he tears and her ignored cried for help, Artemis could burn a city.

    "You are so much more than a womb. You are more than just the next in line for the Crown." I whisper, pulling her exhausted body down with me to the floor as I hold her, knowing that I need to be strong for her always, so that she can break down every once in a while. "You are Light, you are Earth, you are talent. You are beauty and strength and resilience and bravery. You are stubborn in the best way, you are chilling to the bone. You are caring to a fault and selfless beyond reason. You are a leader and a friend. And you are an amazing, perfect Knot."

     My hands come up to push her away from me and I cup her cheeks, not minding the tears that fall into my hand, letting them sit there as I praise the beauty within my hold.

    "You are perfect in your imperfections and when you reach your goal so many people will thank and look up to you. They will see why I see, and I know you will too." I tell her before I walk forward and kiss away her tears, my fingers helping me in rushing them away.

    The action only makes them flow faster but I don't mind.

     I sit there patiently and pull her forehead to my lips as I wash away the pain and rich away the hurt if only for a second so the weight of the world can take a break from her shoulders.

    "I don't deserve you." She whispers after a while, her voice broken and tired and I laugh and shake my head, noting just how beautiful she is despite the pain thats swimming in her eyes and the tears streaming down her face.

     "We're perfect for each other. Pain is beauty and beauty, whether inside or out, is always pain. You're perfect despite your imperfections and we will get through this together." I tell her and she sniffles but nods her head and I rest my head against hers and we sit there along for flor for a few hours, listening to the sound of nothing as her skin gets cooler and cooler.

    After an hour or six or maybe only a few minutes, she pulls away from me and blows out a huff is air rhys a little shaken before her hands come up to embed themselves in my hair softly.

    "You are an angel that was sent to me form the greatest of heavens. I don't know what I did to deserve you." She tells me with a small smile before pressing her lips to my face, cheek and finally resting her nose on my neck where I shiver at the contact, one of my hands coming up to press her closer to me and stroke her hair.

    "Things will get worse before they get better. But I'll be here." I tell her and while the words are new, they sound right.

     "And I believe you." She tells me softly. "My little butterfly."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love everything about this chapter and can't help but want to share it. I'm too lazy to find picture but I feel like you guys low key don't care of i have them or not.

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: Do you sleep with socks on?