MABEL
Placated briefly, the youth loosened a sigh, a breath she didn’t need to hold; the needle not so tethered to her hand, gliding down to her fingertips. Her head hung down still, and layers, lacquer, of frustration slid in amongst her ichor, uncertain what she was supposed to be feeling, and expecting a lecture. “Bring us to war.” Hadn’t the Wraith said so? To prepare, to be ready, when the tension was drawn high, when the sovereignty seemed to turn over.
Her eyes eventually glanced back up to Wessex, listening, taking everything in, trying hard not to immerse herself back into the flare of her temper, the rise of her ire. “I want to live. I want my sister to live. I’m not ready for any battle.” No matter how much she’d wanted to be those wolves creeping through the darkness, illustrious and deadly in the forest, she couldn’t possibly reign supreme now, not when they were so new, barely Bright at all. Evelyn was all she had left of a sanctity they’d willingly left behind, of a void that hadn’t listened to them, of a world full of false spirits and love for deities and heralds who’d never heard them at all. She didn’t want to lose her.
Then she shrugged at the Wraith’s implications. “I don’t know you at all. I hardly know anyone in this family.” Save for her own twin, who she’d understand and comprehend for eternity. “I don’t know what you want for us.” A tide of ignorance, swelling over her sanctity, looking straight into the older woman’s gaze.
Her eyes eventually glanced back up to Wessex, listening, taking everything in, trying hard not to immerse herself back into the flare of her temper, the rise of her ire. “I want to live. I want my sister to live. I’m not ready for any battle.” No matter how much she’d wanted to be those wolves creeping through the darkness, illustrious and deadly in the forest, she couldn’t possibly reign supreme now, not when they were so new, barely Bright at all. Evelyn was all she had left of a sanctity they’d willingly left behind, of a void that hadn’t listened to them, of a world full of false spirits and love for deities and heralds who’d never heard them at all. She didn’t want to lose her.
Then she shrugged at the Wraith’s implications. “I don’t know you at all. I hardly know anyone in this family.” Save for her own twin, who she’d understand and comprehend for eternity. “I don’t know what you want for us.” A tide of ignorance, swelling over her sanctity, looking straight into the older woman’s gaze.
I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out
and stretch my claws out
