flora
Flora’s smile is quiet, tired at the corners, but real all the same. It flickers like candlelight at Sohalia’s vow—because she believes it, deeply, maybe too deeply. And maybe that’s the problem: That Sohalia always comes because Flora keeps giving her reasons to. "I know," she murmurs, brushing her thumb again along the edge of Sohalia’s hand. There’s a thread of guilt sewn in, the kind she doesn’t bother hiding.
She exhales, the breath slow and uneven, and when she speaks again it’s more to the tabletop than to Sohalia’s eyes. "I’d been invisible ever since the party. I just—" she winces, her grip tightening slightly, "I assumed Dahlia wouldn’t be able to find me. I thought if I kept my head down and stayed out of sight, I’d be safe. I wasn’t even doing anything reckless, Soh. I was in the Greatwood visiting a friend and then she was just there."
A shiver traces her spine, visible even in the slow hunch of her shoulders. Her voice dips lower, barely above a whisper now. "She saw me, and attacked me before I could do anything..I used my compass, I—I dropped into King’s End, and she still—" Flora swallows hard, visibly trembling now, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and dread. "She still found me."
She shakes her head, curls brushing against her cheek. "I channeled Ronin. Who channeled Remi and Sunjata. And they—" A soft, incredulous laugh pushes through, brittle and hollow. "They stabbed her with a rose."
Her free hand lifts, fingers making a vague gesture in the air before falling uselessly into her lap. Her voice is barely audible now. "But not before she got her claws in me again, literally."
Flora doesn’t cry, not quite. But her jaw trembles, and when she finally meets Sohalia’s eyes again, it’s with a sheen of unshed tears and a thousand-yard stare that speaks of far too much blood in the grass and not enough time to stop it. "Gods it...I felt her claws against my ribs." Swallowing down a sob that nearly has Flora gagging, the queen looks away, eyelashes fluttering. "It was like she was trying to tear me apart." And gods, she very nearly had.
She exhales, the breath slow and uneven, and when she speaks again it’s more to the tabletop than to Sohalia’s eyes. "I’d been invisible ever since the party. I just—" she winces, her grip tightening slightly, "I assumed Dahlia wouldn’t be able to find me. I thought if I kept my head down and stayed out of sight, I’d be safe. I wasn’t even doing anything reckless, Soh. I was in the Greatwood visiting a friend and then she was just there."
A shiver traces her spine, visible even in the slow hunch of her shoulders. Her voice dips lower, barely above a whisper now. "She saw me, and attacked me before I could do anything..I used my compass, I—I dropped into King’s End, and she still—" Flora swallows hard, visibly trembling now, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and dread. "She still found me."
She shakes her head, curls brushing against her cheek. "I channeled Ronin. Who channeled Remi and Sunjata. And they—" A soft, incredulous laugh pushes through, brittle and hollow. "They stabbed her with a rose."
Her free hand lifts, fingers making a vague gesture in the air before falling uselessly into her lap. Her voice is barely audible now. "But not before she got her claws in me again, literally."
Flora doesn’t cry, not quite. But her jaw trembles, and when she finally meets Sohalia’s eyes again, it’s with a sheen of unshed tears and a thousand-yard stare that speaks of far too much blood in the grass and not enough time to stop it. "Gods it...I felt her claws against my ribs." Swallowing down a sob that nearly has Flora gagging, the queen looks away, eyelashes fluttering. "It was like she was trying to tear me apart." And gods, she very nearly had.
How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
