Page 91 of Of Storm and Emerald
She’d beenfineuntil he took her hand.
Finer still, until he placed his warm palm on her bare back.
But she could no longer claim to befinewhen he called her ‘my star.’
That broke something in her. Something she didn’t know how to fix.
Auraelia leaned against the door frame, watching as twilight took over the sky. The stars finally allowed to shine after being pushed aside to let the daylight linger.
She felt his presence before he said anything, but still, the sound of his voice made her jolt.
“Auraelia?” He sounded nervous, like he was questioning being there at all.
She sighed and rubbed her hand along her arm. “I can’t do this tonight, Daemon. I don’t know that I can do this at all, actually.”
When she finally turned around to face him, she knew what he would see.
He would see silver rimmed eyes from tears she refused to let fall. Would see a nose that had been reddened by continuous wiping.
He would see a defeated and tired woman.
Something that she never let anyone see. But she was tired of being strong all the time, and she just didn’t care to try anymore.
Not tonight.
She barely met his gaze, instead turning her head back toward the darkening sky outside.
Out of her peripheral she saw him take a step towards her.
“Don’t.Please.” Her voice cracked and turned pleading as she hung her head, and the first tear fell. Leaving a dark stain on her skirt as it rolled to the floor.
“My star, plea–”
“Daemon, don’t.Pleasedon’t call me that. I ambeggingyou. Please. Not now, not ever. I just–” She took a breath, eyes searching the ceiling above her for some kind of answer. “I can’t take it.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you, Auraelia. I–I just want to talk.”
“Talk?” She turned towards him, her sorrow blending seamlessly into the cresting anger. “You want totalk? What could you possibly want to talk about, Daemon?”
She watched as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. When he didn’t respond, her anger flared.
“Here, I’ll start. How about we talk about how you stopped writing to me? How about we discuss how your ownmotherwanted to meet me and you decided that I wasn’t good enough. What about instead of telling me that you didn’t want this anymore, that you didn’t wantmeanymore, you started looking for someone else while I sat and waited for a stupid letter!”
Her voice got increasingly higher as she went on. Thunder boomed in the sky, while lightning crackled between the clouds. It was as if the Sapphire Isle’s Goddess–Narissa–was witnessing their argument and agreed with her.
Daemon’s eyes got increasingly sadder and more guilty with every blow she landed.
“The worst part is that Iknewthis would happen. I even told you that it would happen, and you said that it wouldn’t. You said you wanted to get to know my mind and my heart. But as soon as I let you in, you left.”
Daemon took a step closer, but she held out her hand to stop him. “Don’t come any closer. I can’t bear to be near you right now. Ithurtstoo much. Can’t you see that thishurts me?! You could come over here, pull me into your arms and I would melt into your touch. Seek comfort in your embrace. But Ican’tdo that. I can’t let you break me anymore than you already have. I just– can’t.”
Her tears were flowing freely now. Her vision blurred as they mixed with the dark kohl around her eyes and the paint on her lashes that Yvaine had applied earlier. And she was quite sure that she had rivers of black running down her face.
“Auraelia, please.”
“What do you want, Daemon?” Her voice was low and the anguish that filled her heart bled into every word. Exhausted, she turned back toward the balcony–watching the storm roll in from off the coast.
He must have shadow-walked to her, because she didn’t hear him move.
