𝘊𝘙𝘐𝘔𝘚𝘖𝘕 ° 𝘑𝘈𝘚𝘗𝘌𝘙 𝘏𝘈𝘓𝘌 ✓

40 | BRIAR ROSE |

CRIMSON.

It is the vivid shade of her mother's favorite lipstick. The five year old smears the tube of gold and red across her lips and struts out into the living room, ready for her first day of school in the small Pennsylvanian town their family had moved to for the next few years at least for her father's business. Her mother scolds her while her father hands her a damp tissue—

—It is the rush of red that fills her chubby twelve year old cheeks as she wins the school talent show. She managed to speed paint a portrait of Princess Leia in under three minutes. Everyone is cheering for her. Her little sister holds up a giant poster, her gleeful shouts carrying over the crowd—

—It is the color of her shoes at the homecoming dance at San Antonio high school's gymnasium. She dances with her crush, a boy with a charming smile and sparkling eyes. In their innocence, she had no idea he was the evilest boy in the world—

—It is the flashing lights of the police cars and ambulance truck that surrounded the flipped over vehicle. She was pulled out, lying on a stretcher, barely breathing. She was nearly dead, her sister already gone from the world on impact. Her heart beat, but her life was gone—

—It is when she is falling, falling in love with Jasper Hale, that she is happy again. He is kind, and sweet, and he understands her more than anyone. He is her soulmate, she is sure of it—

—It is the feeling of Jasper's lips on hers as he showed her how much he loved her.
"I'll love you forever," he murmurs as she feels alive again—

—She is in the bathroom of their villa on the beaches of California. She is alone for once as Jasper hunts, but she is more than happy, as she holds up the white stick with a little pink plus sign. She strokes the skin of her abdomen softly—

—She is falling, this time down the stairs, her heart dropping as she realizes she can't save anyone—

—It is the blinking red line of the hospital machines steadily fluctuating up and down. For some reason, she's survived again. She's always been a fighter, but the fire within her was nearly extinguished. She is broken. Utterly. Completely. Her mother sleeps in the armchair next to her bed—

—It is the bouquet of roses she paints on canvas amongst a handful of international students. No one knows her really, but it was better that way. Her art is all she needed to recover, to heal, to distract herself from the numbness within. She smiles again—

—Her heart pounding above the city of Florence as Alec presses his cool, smooth lips to hers like an innocent child—

—Her blood pooling around her, as she lays alone and dying in the Florence University dormitory as a fire raged around her. It painted her skin in vivid hues. And then as a sharp force bites into her throat, she is burning beyond the flames—

—Her newborn eyes. Blinking in confusion at the world around her. She is changed.

Crimson.

Her eyes snap open again and this time, they're as golden as the sun.

And crimson is the fury that surges through her as Rory remembers everything.