The cold underneath me radiated through my bones. A sound chimed through the dark room around me. It is time. They're coming. I reached behind my back where I had hidden a piece of wood that I found and had been widowing away to make a stake, hopefully, to injure my captor and escape.
The door creaked open causing light to pour into the room. My body tensed as I waited to attack my captor and finally make a break for it. My friends must be worried about me, they must be spending all their resources on me. I am not worth all of that, especially with Amarantha coming, and possible war.
I saw the figure of my captor standing in the doorway, I tried to move to my feet, but I couldn't move. I tried to move my arm, but it didn't move either. My panic didn't fully set in until I saw my daughter in their arms.
She was kicking and screaming as she tried to pry herself away from them. I tried to call her and tell her to run, but nothing above a whimper came out. The captor – who's face I have yet to see – held a knife up to her neck.
My heart stopped as I saw the knife run across her neck. Blood didn't only run to the floor, but it gushed all over the room, covering me, every single inch of me.
✦"ETHERIA!"
I snapped back into reality to see everything around ripped to shreds. The silk sheets from the bed in ribbons laying across the floor. The armoire lay flat on the ground, all the contents spread across the room ripped to shreds. I lifted my hand to my cheek, tears were rolling down my cheeks non-stop.
I finally mustered up enough courage to see who called to me. Cassian stood in the doorway of the room, he held his hands up his palms facing me. He was just wearing his sweatpants, his chest was covered in cuts, fresh blood leaking from them.
My eyes drifted down to my other hand, in it sat a blade. A long, sharp, blood-covered, Illyrian blade.
"You didn't mean to," Cassian said, his voice barely above a whisper. Footsteps came thundering towards my room, I looked up and behind Cassian and Lucien appeared holding a sword looking into the room. Cassian didn't even look back as he took a careful step into the room.
"I hurt you," I muttered dropping the blade to the floor letting it clatter against the ground. Cassian nodded slowly and lift up the side-table that sat in his path that I had no doubt thrown.
"Everything is okay. Bellamy is in a better place, she isn't in any pain." Cassian said. Now I remembered that nearly two-hundred years ago I would have horrible nightmares about Bellamy. Since he had the room next to mine, he was always the first, and normally the only, person to run to my aid after I had trashed my room unknowingly.
Lucien slackened his fighting stance as he watched the situation. He was no doubt confused, but he didn't let that reach his face.
Two of my worst experiences in one horrendous nightmare. My daughter, her death, the way she was taken from me far too early and my fifty years held captive. I would never admit to anyone, but I remembered every second of it. Every pain and sorrow inflicted on me. The way my captor would make me beg just so that I could have a stale piece of bread.
"I am so sorry," I said. No matter how much I willed it, my tears didn't cease. My heart ached, throughout all those years I hadn't thought about Bellamy once. Maybe this torture was punishment for it. I deserved this, I deserved this punishment for forgetting about her.
"Don't be sorry," Cassian said walking closer to me. I bent down and picked up a shredded piece of a dress and draped it over my over arm.
"Just, go clean yourself," I said looking out my bedroom at the door across from my room where the bathroom was. Cassian nodded and left into the bathroom. Lucien slowly walked into the room, I stared at him waiting to see what he would do. He leaned down and picked up a piece of the shredded bed sheet. I nodded at him before I continued to clean up.
Cassian came back out of the bathroom and helped clean up in silence. The one thing I refused to pick up was the knife, Lucien picked that up and folded it into the pieces of shredded material without another thought.
✦After we finished cleaning we left all the stuff in a pile on the bed. Cassian said he would tell Rhysand about it all and he would deal with it. I couldn't bear heading back to sleep in fear of having another dream so I went walking around the House.
I remembered every inch of it. Nothing had moved, not even simple decorations sitting on tables in the halls. If nothing had moved then my music room must still be here.
When Rhys had hired me and taken me in, he had asked if he could do anything for me. I simply asked for a cello. He ended up giving me a full room full of instruments, ones that I couldn't even dream of learning to play.
Out of the many years I have lived here, I have learned how to play four instruments. I enjoy playing each and every one of them.
I spent all my time in that room. Playing music. Creating music. Sometimes Rhys even hired a musician to come for a day and play music with me. I had never, and will never, be able to thank him enough for that.
Music was one of the only things that distracted me from the loss of Bellamy. She loved singing with me, training with me, fighting with me. I turned my memories into the music, then turned the music into a beautiful symphony of sounds that calmed even the most angered souls.
The music room had not changed either. The instruments sat in their place, shiny and unused. It was obvious that they had been taken care of and cleaned, I guessed they would be for the rest of eternity, as long as this House sat.
I sat down on the wooden chair in the corner of the room and positioned the cello between my legs. As I began to play the dread, and fear, that had been nestled deep inside me began to lighten. Even if it was just enough for me not to feel like I was drowning.
The music didn't just flow through the air, but it flowed through my body. It radiated through me, dulling most of my senses. The whole world became a blur. My heartbeat and the music consuming me wholly. I had gone to a whole new world and left the pained and old one behind.
My new life was full of joy and bright colors. I had my daughter and all of my friends. I finished my long days training young woman hoping to become warriors, then I would go home and play music and get lost in it. I would visit the symphony every night and savor every moment of it. And maybe even perform in a couple of shows.
Despite being calm, and somewhat happy, I started to cry. I would like to think it was tears of joy, but in actuality, they were far from it.
