Two Hundred Years in Slavery is all the people of Xathania have known. Toiling and dying for a kingdom that has only snarled at them. Not until hope surfaces as a story in the wind and the flames of a spirit long forgotten resurfaces to face the g...
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Cora became whole again.
Somehow, she had gotten herself off Milkarea, following the lead of those two wisps of shadow. On closer observation, they had whisps of fire and light in them. But their power of darkness was more dominant than that seed of light and spark of fire. She entered her father's castle and let herself be flesh again. At least as much flesh as a dead woman could be.
Orcus had been the hardest part of her life. She thought the taunting and abuse of Welkamians was where the hardships of her life would end but she was mistaken. Zebel was a parasite that was going to be scorched out of existence one way or another. In her time with him, she been forced to watch Freya be whipped and tortured under the influence of shackles made from stones of the pit.
She had been put in clothes that exposed her body and was nearly raped by that reeking being. If it had not been for the woman who had killed her, the woman who apologized for the murder the second they were alone. Cora would have lost a piece of herself to that bastard. She would not let it break her. Freya's torture had nearly done it. Nearly made her accept Zebel as her husband but Freya had screamed through the pain. Told her not.
If she had been assaulted, she would have survived. She had lived in fear of it her whole life that death had made her numb to it.
Cora took in the room she entered the castle through. She only chose it because the windows had been open. Someone laid in the bed, a man from the way he was built. It would have been a woman as well but Cora knew that women did not snore like hellhounds. She approached the bed and looked at the face of the occupant of the bedroom.
Fadri, her oldest brother, did not look at peace. Neither did the woman beside him. His wife perhaps but she would not have known. Her brother had barely spoken to her when he was here. She sat in an arm chair and waited for them to wake up. Sleep did not come. She was truly dead. Truly gone from Midres.
Fadri woke up first and did not notice her immediately. She knew that she was wholly still but she did not think she invisible. He paused at the desk in the room. He had sensed her and slowly, he looked at her.
His eyes shone with tears as she rose.
'Brother,' she said quietly and he crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
'Thank the gods,' he whispered.
She heard shuffling and knew that the woman he slept with had risen as well.
'My Lord?' The woman whispered and he let go and stepped aside. The woman froze. Cora had not noticed her beauty in the dark, but now she could. The woman's chestnut hair fell to her back and bright blue eyes stared at Cora. 'You look just like your mother,' the woman said and closed the gap between them.
'How?' Her brother whispered.
Cora swayed a bit but she told them. She told everything. Every single detail of her torture and of Freya's. Freya was still in the pit she feared and she didn't know how to find it. How to find her or Eleonor.
'The Queen of Welkamia is alive,' Her brother's wife said.
Cora looked at her.
'She was dead and her passing was done with yours and Freya's and the knights that were killed with Freya,' she added and a sob broke out of Cora. A short heart wrenching sound. Then, she let it out. They both held her until it passed, until her crying stopped. The sun had risen well above the horizon when they excused themselves and disappeared behind a door that she guessed was the bathing room.
She heard a coo and immediately she followed it to the cot that sat at the opposite side of the room. She walked to it and found a baby in it. Judging by his size, he was almost one and probably slept through the night. She picked him up and wandered how she had not seen him before as she walked back to the bed and sat on it.
Her nephew stayed quiet until his parents returned in new clothes.
Her sister-in-law's eyes went wide when she saw the baby.
'Was he fussing?' She crossed the room quickly and checked on her son then on Cora. Cora shook her head. She took the baby and promised to see Cora later before disappearing into the bathing room with him.
'Her name is Mirah,' Fadri clarified and offered his hand. 'My son is Nick.'
'I am glad that she makes you happy.'
Fadri gave her a sad smile. 'Does Samael make you happy?'
'A lot.'
Fadri nodded. 'I am sorry for being less welcoming than Abbel was.'
'You were being protective,' Cora took his hand and stood. 'You have a lot to lose.'
'So did you when you threw yourself between father and the beasts,' Fadri began to walk not letting go of her hand like he believed she would be gone if he let go. 'Thank you for protecting us.'
They stepped into the corridor and rapid footsteps could be heard approaching. Like someone was running. Samael came into sight and paused. He wore a golden armor with Sulas' sigil in it. He looked tired but he wasn't mortal anymore. He must have let it go when she died.
'Brat?' He asked.
'Brute,' she mocked and instantly he was before her. Hugging her like his life depended on it. She hugged him back not wanting to let go. Not now. Not ever. He was her home and she wouldn't lose that again.
