marked me like a bloodstain
For a split second panic seizes her. Pierce had appeared in the Greatwood like some decadent predator; unhurried, unbothered—it couldn't have been more different from the way the Valkyrie descended toward the shoreline, and yet as sand sprayed away from her mother's feet and the smell of lightning hit the air, Flora's heart rose into her throat as her fingers clumsily reached for her daggers. Before they could find them, her body was swallowed up by a tangle of maternal limbs that had her gasping with a mixture of pain, surprise, and relief such that the first sound she was able to make, swallowed up by the halo of her mother's hair, was a strangled and soft whimper.
As Hotaru's embrace grew more frenzied, the Doubletake braced against her mother as the Valkyrie's jerks sent ricochets of pain screeching out from Flora's still-healing wounds. "Mom," the queen pleads weakly, trying to straighten enough for Hotaru to see her face properly; to see that she was alive and well.
Three was a terrible number, impossible for any mother to bear, and yet it was as accurate as it was inaccurate given that the Doubletake was able to wrap her arms around Hotaru; her grip far softer on the right thanks to where the fatal blow that had ended her life had also made a mess of her shoulder. "Mom. I'm okay."
As Hotaru's embrace grew more frenzied, the Doubletake braced against her mother as the Valkyrie's jerks sent ricochets of pain screeching out from Flora's still-healing wounds. "Mom," the queen pleads weakly, trying to straighten enough for Hotaru to see her face properly; to see that she was alive and well.
Three was a terrible number, impossible for any mother to bear, and yet it was as accurate as it was inaccurate given that the Doubletake was able to wrap her arms around Hotaru; her grip far softer on the right thanks to where the fatal blow that had ended her life had also made a mess of her shoulder. "Mom. I'm okay."
