you shook me, adna

[adna]

I will commit my soul to your door tonight, and I'll last 'til the gas fumes float on higher

Her father’s presence is comforting, even if the words that he has to say are not. She relishes that she is in his presence though and closes her serpentine eyes so that she can focus on the steady rhythm of his breath instead. It reminds her of being a young girl before she knew the fangs of the world so intimately. When he was still the unsullied hero of her story. When she could close her eyes and lean into him and know that everything was going to be okay because he was there watching over her and her mother.

But she had grown and discovered that her father was as complex as the oceans.

He was not without sin, without shadow. He was complex and multi-layered. Haunted by demons that now chased her and there had been times when he had not been strong enough to stand up to them.

But she still loved him. Would always love him.

“I do. I love her,” she finally says, feeling as though she can finally understand the weight that Vulgaris must carry every day. She stays there, stilling, as he continues, and she feels the thrum of her heart grow faster when she understands what he is saying. Family. The Ghaul—this serpent—is family.

Her eyes open and she steps back slightly to study his face. “You’re sure of it?” Her throat is tight and she can hear the tension singing through her voice as she swallows. “He’s related to us?”

It feels so unlikely, but she knows stranger things have happened.

She wonders if she will hesitate to crush his throat between her jaws now that she knows.

She does not wonder for long.

in a dying love I'm nothing but a stone cold liar but, oh, I got an iron in that fire

Adna

@[vulgaris]