this time I’m torn, please wake me if I lose that face
search in these eyes: there’s still fire in the darkness
There was a time when she'd been so emotionally broken soon after she'd been returned to Ischia after what had happened to her. Each time someone looked at her, she was so sure all they saw were the scars, that elegant lace permanently marked into her skin. She was so sure all they saw was her stupidity, and how she must've been asking for it in order for such a thing to happen to her.
That Wallace. She had a mouth on her.
Said the wrong thing to someone and finally paid for it, hadn't she?
She had. More times over. Because even now her heart doesn't know how else to beat but to his rhythm. Each day she still suffers at his expert hands no matter how far he is. He had claimed more of her than he'd meant to, stolen far more than he'd intended. Not on that day when he'd left her in a bloody heap, but when he'd come crashing back into her life to make amends, treat her right, teach her how it should've been. She supposed it should've been incredible. Since that's what he'd showed her.
And then walked away from it. Because she was nothing. No matter what she did in life, she was still the worthless orphan that was too young to be on her own, smarted off too much, cut others down with an effortless sweep of bladed words. She'd had a fire in her once. She was haunted and empty now.
When Reilly wasn't with her, protective and caring and trying to make her smile, she was often alone. Kharon preferred his time with his sisters, though he made sure to have alone time with her as well. Just not as much. And Kir..
Well, she was alone. And this was a path she was beginning to memorize, this soft trail between the trees where the sun pushed through to spill over the ground in random pools of light. There wasn't a breeze to lift her brown hair off her neck, nor to bring his scent to her from above. She only ghosted through the sparse forest, her brown eyes not really seeing what was around her, only feeling the warmth touch her skin and then cool again as she slid into shade once more. Warm then cold. It didn't matter that she wasn't watching much. There wasn't danger here. It wasn't home, but it was safe.
She'd find a way to get them home.
