Strong Currents (lesbian)

Chapter 9 - The Fear

Chapter 9

“Shade, this family needs all the help it can get. You are part of this family. Therefore, should this family fall, so will you. You cannot deny your heritage forever; looks are only skin deep. Remember that net time you try to refuse a task.”

“Yes, grandmother.” Shade bowed her head respectfully and waited to be dismissed.

“I have great faith in you, my dear. I believe that what happened between your grandfather and I was a mistake. Nevertheless, it brought me great joy in the form of your mother, and now in you. I know you’ll do us proud, my dear. Sade, never forget who you are. You are very special, and nothing will change that. Your cousin needs you desperately, and it’s up to you to clear the path for her.” Emelda Marrick rose from her chair and made her way, across the dais on which it sat, towards her favourite grandchild.

“If it were my choice, you’d be the one to take my place. Unfortunately, your cousin was born but a day before you. In my heart, though, you will always be my heir. You have inherited so much from me, from our ancestors, as it is. Perhaps one day it will be sufficient enough to award you your rightful place. Until then, my dear, go to this humanoid, this unknown, and show her our species is not as dark and demented as the dimensions have deluded themselves into believing.”

With a final pat on her left shoulder, Shade rose from her knees to bend back into a final bow before her grandmother. A warm smile was exchanged between them as Shade stepped back and off the dais. A couple long strides brought her to the giant rosewood doors that were the entrance to her grandmother’s receiving room. Guests, thousands or millions of them, had graced these very halls over the many centuries since its construction. Centuries before it there were luscious gardens that stretched beyond the horizon all around the castle. Just as the colour and life of those gardens had withered, so had the castle itself and all of its inhabitants withered too.

Shade longed to see this castle return to the glory depicted in the many portraits that graced the walls of the endless hallways that wound themselves around and around inside the dark interior. The exterior was a dark smudge of the grand light it had once been. She knew that she had the power to change that. She knew it was her duty to do so. After all, this was her heritage, this was her family, and she owed it to them as well as to herself to do whatever she could to restore their standing in all societies, to restore the family name.

~*~

“Mirah, I am not sure I can trust her.” Mirah watched as her best friend, her saviour, paced back and forth across the carpeted floor. It would seem she’d worn a path in the plush blue-hued Persian.

“Do not worry. I can make sure that Nixie is not persuaded away from you in any way. Perhaps you should consider introducing yourself.”

“Like this?! Can you imagine what she’d think if she saw this coming down the street towards her?! Gah!” Mirah sighed dramatically and shook her head. The pacing sped up and the ranting grew louder and louder with each step.

“Would you just shut up, it’ll be fine. Gosh. Sometimes I wonder if you see yourself properly.”

“Mirah, I don’t need to see myself properly, I need her to not see me.” The tiniest tear slipped down her cheek and she turned from her friend as she wiped it away.

“She already knows you. She just needs her memory to be refreshed.”

“Exactly! She knows what a demented freak I am. How can I expect her to like me; she’s so perfect.”

“Nobody is perfect, doll, and you better remember that. You’re an amazing person and you deserve her, because she wouldn’t be your mate if you didn’t. Just go see her.”