A Court of Pain and Sorrow

The Protected

The next two days passed by like a blur.

Rhaella didn't get out of bed and she had started to mix up reality.
She never knew when she was sleeping or when she was awake.

The voices were screaming all the time, making her head hurt restless.

Sometimes, she would open her eyes and would find herself in front of Hugo's body. Or in front of Marcel's.
Sometimes she couldn't tell them apart.

Everytime the Ravens fed her, she threw up.
It was of no use.

The doctor came a couple of times and asked her questions she couldn't really hear.

The pain had left her numb. Completely numb.

Delilah was doing better.
She was a mess when she was alone, but in public, she was a functional human being.

The Ravens were the same.
They showed strength and broke down alone.

Rhaella was tired of being strong.

So she let herself be weak. She allowed herself to give up for once.

***

After a week, the pain allowed her to get up from bed and eat one meal every day.

She trained a bit as well.
In the middle of the night.

She had spent a week drowning inside her own head, she needed to breathe a but of fresh air.

And the only way to do that was staying awake.

Sometimes Lorcan joined her.

He wouldn't say anything (non of the Ravens did lately).
He positioned himself in front of her and they spared together, careful not to seriously hurt the other.

One night, in the middle of their fight, he broke down.
Lorcan started to cry in such a heartbreaking wat that it physically hurt Rhaella.

She hugged him tightly and caressed his hair, whispering sweet thing to calm him down.

The next day, it was her that broke down and it was him who consoled her.

From then on, the Ravens started to talk again, to be strong in public and break down on the arms of a friend.

They mourned together, they carried that wound together.

And they would scar it together.

**"

Dante had called everyone to the throne room.
No one knew why.

The Ravens and Delilah arrived together a bit late. That meant they would have to stick to standing in the back.

The criminals around them looked at Rhaella with a mix of admiration and fear.

Public opinion about the Raven Death killing Dante's Protected was divided.

Some said that she should be punished for what she did.
Others claimed that it was just payback for what Marcel did and that, if he couldn't defend himself, he deserved it.

The Ravens liked the last version better.

"My Protected and Heir to my Kingdom, Marcel, was murdered a week ago." Dante said, silencing everyone and standing from his throne. Marylyn and Nick were at his sides, like dogs. Rhaella picked at her nails, not really interested in the speech. "He was a fool... He acted in his own and look where that took him."