Lord Mael Aries' Manor, Prythian, four years ago…

Brianna crept around the long corridor her footsteps feather light on the deep mahogany floor; her heart pounded in its chest cavity and the loose curls dangled around her delicate face. The doorframe she gripped onto with her spare hand was cold; the tall mahogany wood had some wear and tear chips near the bottom, one of the only tells that the large manor was 'lived in'.

She gripped onto the small wooden practice knife and allowed her eyes to roam the long corridor, she made to move when she heard whispering from the room beside her. She was not permitted to be on this wing of the manor, it was the Lord's personal business rooms, it was the only area the children could not occupy at any given moment. She rolled her eyes; the family had been incredibly kind to her in the year they'd taken her in, becoming an almost second family to her.

Much to her confusion, she was literally nobody, a young girl in a strange land; betrayed by those she loved the most. She was broken, spoke a strange tongue – one of the first attributes to be irradiated to 'protect' her wellbeing – and had absolutely no idea how to survive in this land. It was entirely unbelievable that the Anette family, a wealthy, prominent family and lord of the lands, had rescued her.

Yet, there she stood, leaning against the strong mahogany doorframe in a fine dress, with loose curls and a corset. It was incomprehensible but the facts were the facts.

The door quickly opened and there stood the Lord's younger brother, Alexis stood almost three feet taller than her. His hair had some grey around the sides near his ears and his hairline had already started to recede. He wore fine clothes befitting of his station as a Lords brother, something she was taught in her lessons with the Lords young son, Cristophe.

"Miss Brianna?" he queried, his eyebrow raising.

"Apologies, I was practising with Christophe and," she hated how her voice shook, but she never really liked Alexis, he seemed to always lurk around, he had a very young wife, barely seventeen and already with child, not to mention he always looked at her strangely. A certain fire in his eyes she wasn't yet old enough to decipher.

"You shouldn't be lurking in this area, my brother doesn't take kindly to unwanted attention here" his tone was serious, he was handsome in a strange sort of way, his cheeks were high, and his eyes that strange colour, the same as her friends'.

"I'll be on my way, I just got carried away with our game" she turned to leave but a large hand swiftly gripped around her slender arm.

"I think it would be best if you come in, Brianna. I feel it is my duty to speak to you about this misbehaviour in my brother absence" he gently pulled her into the room, glanced around the corridor and quietly shut the door with a gentle click.

The room had a large wooden desk, with bits of paper and notebooks draped haphazardly over its surface, a fire burned dully in the small fireplace to the side, and flower shaped holders with candles burned around the room. A large window behind the desk gave the room much needed natural light, Brianna thought it smelt strange, like smoke and...man. Alexis stalked behind her and perched on the edge of the desk, pulling her slightly closer to him. She immediately felt uncomfortable. And yet, at just fifteen, the hand holding her little wooden knife tightened to an almost painful grip and her heart somehow quickened its pace.

"Relax little bird, it is me," he smiled, and she knew with absolute clarity, that this man did not have good intentions like his brother or his nephew. The smile was wide but didn't quite reach his eyes; it still accentuated the slight wrinkles around them nonetheless. "I have noticed you," he said "looking at me whenever I visit my brother, you seem taken by my young nephew, which is admirable given my brother plans to use this to his advantage by marrying you both". He paused and reached around her to pick up a round crystal glass with amber liquid within, he tipped the contents into his mouth and within seconds it was gone and he turned to face her. He was so close; Brianna could almost taste the liquor on his warm breath. She felt her grip tighten, and thought frantically what she should do she almost could hear her fathers kind voice urging her to remember her lessons. But she'd never really had to hone and use them, and the last year had made her softer, she struggled to calm her heart enough to remember his advice.

"My nephew deserves a girl with stature, title, a dowry" he rolled his eyes "but my brother said you were a prize in your own way" he opened his legs and pulled her closer, his other hand lightly touching the side of her face "I can see how you might be" he smiled again "my nephew couldn't handle you though, I see the way your eyes study everything, the way you learn faster than any other of your age. The way men turn their heads whenever you walk near them". He pulled her closer when she tried to wriggle free. "You're certainly beautiful and I've no doubt you'll get more so with time, you easily make friends, friends in very high positions" he muttered, as if mulling his words out-loud to try and understand a puzzle.

"S-sir I don't think we ought to be in here, Lord Aries will be home soon and he will not like my being here" she said firmly. He scoffed and his eyes shone with mischief. She decided that she hated him.

"I never wanted to marry that stupid girl, she was below my station but you…my nephew wouldn't know what to do with you" he grinned, showing his teeth, like a wolf before it pounced on a deer "but I do…"

He gripped her other arm and swiftly turned so she was against the desk, he glowered at her, he was so much taller than she was, his muscles protruded from his waistcoat and rolled up sleeves despite his age. "I know what you are little bird" she glared at him. She was not an exotic, foreign bird, something to be caged and stared at and made to do little tricks. She pushed herself up and forced her heart to slow.

"You," she said, trying to wriggle from his grip "don't know anything about me". He laughed, throwing his head back. Her green eyes narrowed on him. "I am a guest here and your behaviour is un-befitting of your station" she spat the words at him "but then, what station might that be exactly? You're not a Lord, you have no real power, and your own wife dislikes you" she felt her cat-like smile creep across her sharp face "I see you too, Sir." The look he gave her was nothing short of menacing.

He lunged for her, shoving her hard against the desk and she dropped her wooden knife with a thud to the floor, his breath was hot and ragged as he held her in place whilst using his other hand to pull at her dress from the bottom. She tried to scream but his knee met her stomach and she slouched forward, struggling to breathe. He pulled her undergarments down and she saw from his trousers that his member was hard. She squirmed and kicked him hard in shin and he staggered back with pure fury in his eyes as she dropped to the floor, crawling under the desk and frantically searching for the little knife she'd dropped.

"You spoilt little…" as he dropped to the floor and easily pinning her down with his weight and the corset she wore seemed to pull all air from her chest and she felt a sharp surge of panic as she felt him shove his breeches down and squirm to pull her skirts up.

She swatted and scratched at him with her arms and he slapped her in the face, so hard she tasted the tangy iron of her own blood as it dripped into her mouth. "I will show you who is the true Lord of this family" he pulled her legs apart and she frantically searched for anything to grab hold of, tears trailing down her face. She felt him trying to manoeuvre himself, grunting in frustration as he tried to get inside of her.

She closed her eyes and let out a sharp breath.

A voice she heard so clearly and sternly as though it could be a person stood beside her spoke, You are not a bird. You are not weak. You are not helpless. Think. Think. Use your environment. You are strong. Stronger than you know.

She ignored the searing pain and his breathy grunts, she lost time itself as he happily lost himself enough for her to grip a hot candlestick and thrust it in his eyes. He screamed and pulled away from her, gripping his eyes. She crawled a few paces behind and her hand closed around the small knife she'd dropped and without thinking, she shoved it into his neck just as he raced toward her.

Bright red blood leaked down her fingers and he staggered back, gripping his neck, spluttering. She turned and lunged for him, shoving him to the floor and plucked the knife out of his neck and into his chest over and over until blood sprayed on her face, her dress and began to pool around her legs. Her undergarments sitting around her ankles were bloodied.

She stared into his cold, unseeing eyes and vomited.

"Brianna?" Christophe's voice was loud and his steps echoed as he got closer. Her eyes flew frantically to the closed door, and down at the man whose blood was still spitting from his neck and other wounds. She knew in that moment that the people of this manor would not forgive such a crime, even if she were only defending herself. She knew she needn't have killed him so thoroughly and they'd never believe that he…not when he was their family and she was a foreign girl in a world she did not belong.

She stared at the mans blood staining her hands and let out a shaky exhale as she pulled the small knife from his chest, wiped it on his clothes and sniffed away any tears which were desperate to be freed.

It was time to remember her lessons. It was time to say goodbye to this life she knew was never really hers. And it was time to be strong.

She would allow her heart to ache for the life she would lose, for the people who had dared to care for the broken stranger, she would mourn the girl she once was. It was better to be alone, she told herself. Better to rely only on herself; family, lovers, friends…they would only betray her.

In the end, she would need to be the one to stand, and she would do so. Alone.

She gripped the knife and moved toward the low window, her shadow dancing on the white walls in the candlelight. She winced at the darkness as she pried the window open, its whispers of excitement quickened her heart as she climbed out of the window and leapt into its open arms.

Alone.

Present Day

~ Brianna ~

Brianna's eyes were misted as she watched her old and brief friend staring at her. She glance at Mor who's eyes were unreadable, she seemed to stand taller, straighter.

Brianna let out a breath and smiled softly at the man. "I am sorry for how I left," she admitted "you have to know, I didn't do it to hurt you, any of you"

"Tell that to my uncle!" he spat and Mor tensed.

"I don't wish to harm you Christophe, just as the events of that night were vastly not in my control, but I will not allow you to paint anyone victim and villain" she said, and his face softened.

"We have no real proof Brianna, but we know it was you. It broke my father's heart. The truth is that even if I did return you to my father he'd probably not know you"

"I haven't changed all that much" Brianna winced.

"Not because you look different, which you do by the way" his eyes seemed to travel down her body. "He is sick" Christophe leaned against the wall and Brie dared a quick glance at Mor who seemed too lost in her own thoughts to process their intruders swift change in conversation. "I am hurt you left without explaining, I am hurt you didn't trust me and I am furious you have returned and will still not explain but" he paused, running his hand through his hair "it is history, painful and bloody, but history nevertheless"

"We sold the ships, most of the staff have been let go, not just because of the recent war," he quickly glanced at Mor and then met Brie's eyes, "my father started to…forget" sadness leaked into his voice "small things at first, the days, payments for the workers, which room was which, how to ride his horse…" Brie leaned closer to him and Mor seemed to flinch.

"Doctors said it would get worse and once he forgot how to sail, which ships were his and his care became more timely and costly; we surrendered most of our fleet to the war effort and I sold what remained to upkeep his care" he sighed. "I don't know why I tell you these things," he smiled sadly, "I could always talk to you" Brianna gently touched his arm. "They say his memory will continue to fade, I fear every moment he looks at me, he has forgotten me. But, not yet". Brianna squeezed his arm, thinking how bizarre the turn of events was. When Christophe looked up at her, her traitorous mind forced her back to that dark room, and it was no longer her friends' eyes she saw staring back at her.

Blood was on her hands. Pooling around her feet. And the darkness was everywhere, singing to her.

"Brianna" a soft feminine voice spoke beside her ear. "It is alright, you are alright"

She abruptly stood and faced Mor, the woman smiled and it reached her kind eyes. Something like truth sang in them and she felt her bottom lip wobble.

"I don't know why you're here, but it isn't safe for you here. There are soldiers and your pictures are still around the town. You don't look that different" Christophe sighed.

"We need a ship to get to Hybern" Mor spoke and Christophe's eyebrows rose.

"Well, the only ships and boats around now are the crowns but there are still a few owned by sailors. I sold my last ship to a foreign merchant, it's not the largest but its currently docked" Christophe smiled. "I will never get my explanation and I don't think I can ever truly forgive you, but I don't want any harm to find you" he smiled as he turned "anymore than it already has" and Brianna watched his figure grow smaller.

Her heartbeat slowed as she leaned her head against Mor's shoulder. And the woman seemed to mould her body into her. Brianna wished she could remain against Mor forever. And cursed herself for allowing herself to feel such a way.

~ Morrigan ~

Mor had tried to control her fae powers but they'd pulled too strongly and she'd seen everything. Or enough to know why Brianna was so broken. It was her curse to know 'truth', usually she controlled whose truths she saw or heard, but the pull to Brianna was so strong, it was as though her powers forced her to witness such a terrible memory to what end, Mor didn't know. But her mission was becoming more and more complex.

She knew what Brianna had felt; worthless, weak, alone, misunderstood, scared beyond anything she'd ever felt. She'd felt exactly those emotions when her father beat her and left her on the doorstep of another Court, and felt them more forcefully as that Court saw her, bloody and broken on the cold forest floor, and walked away. Leaving her for dead. It was centuries ago, and yet, those feelings…

Brianna was violated in such a way that it made Morrigan want to shatter the world; he took her choice, he took her freedom, her peace, her sense of belonging. For a girl who had lost everything, to then lose what little left of herself she had… it was unbearable to live that memory, of feeling Brianna lose every tangible string of hope. Morrigan felt like she violated the woman simply by seeing that memory but the pull was too powerful, and once she was sucked in…she couldn't escape.

Mor could barely breathe when Brianna had continued her chat with the Lords son, she felt her hands ball into fists as he didn't see the anguish in the woman's face. She felt her body tense when Brianna, still caring for the boy, reached towards him and comforted him, she tensed because she knew what Brianna had felt, what was taken from her and by not telling him, she was allowing him to keep his innocence. She was protecting him, despite it eating her heart. And she watched in horror as the girl was forced to relive that memory at the mere sight of his face, still she protected him.

And at that realisation, Morrigan, one of the most powerful high fae in Prythian's long history. Famed in all lands for her brutal warrior skills, her unrelenting power…Felt her heart shatter and the fragments that remained flew straight towards the strong, and despite it all, kind human with a strong heart and beauty to rival any fae.

She wrapped her arms around the woman, pretending she didn't notice the gentle sobs escaping her.