If you have already read the first chapter, I have changed Aurora from being the younger twin to the older. This made more sense for personality choices further down the line. No need to reread the chapter since it was just a change of word, but just a heads up if you are confused about it for this chapter and later.

_
Also this chapter and the next few are decently short, but necessary set-up for some of the more dense chapters later on. Chapter 3 was pretty large in comparison, so I will try and double upload to make-up for it :)

Also, also. If you want to see character graphics for what I -kindof- imagine the OCs to look like head on over to 1356546980-a-court-of-stone-and-sorrow-acotar-character-art

Or don't, and imagine the characters however you want.

Chapter Four: The Punishment

The days following Amarantha's shift in attention, as well as frustration at Tamlin's continued resistance, led to many small court sessions. The two sheltered Dawn heirs were no longer under the subtle protection of the High Lords and found themselves subjected to more torment than ever before. From knives, to whips, to black talons scaping against their minds, the torture was both physical and mental. However, the increased attention from the witch did not end when the High Lords and their families returned to their chambers. Instead, Amarantha managed to continue their torment by making 'modifications' to their living arrangements.

The Dawn court twins went from having as much freedom as one can in the darkness of the mountain, to being stripped of even the smallest freedoms. Once locked in a room full of books, art, and subdued happiness, now locked in a room entirely bare except for the thin sheet and two pillows left on their shared bed.

It was on this bed that Aurora now lay, eyes blankly staring up at the ceiling as she released a sigh. Turning over to look at her twin, who lay in a similar position, a frown marred the female's face.

"Do you think we will ever see the sky?"

Aurora's voice was but a whisper as her eyes returned to the gray stone ceiling. It was impossible to tell the ceiling from the walls or the floor in their home. All of the gray stones seemingly the same, and endless. Sometimes the only way that Aurora was convinced that the sun even existed was in the flames of the torches that lined their tomb. If a light that bright and warm existed in the all-encompassing darkness, then it must be quite large to keep the entire world in light above the mountain. The sun in the Dawn court, a bright and warm red as it loomed just over the horizon. The days long and full of a comfortable peace that the ever-present light brought… Or at least that was what her father had told them.

Staring at the small torch that rested near the door, it was hard to imagine such a thing could bring comfort. The flickering of the little light that they were allowed seemed to accentuate the shadows. The darkness, seeping out of the gray walls and attempting to consume them at all times. It was a gentle dance, the fear of the dark ebbing and flowing with the flames.

Aurora looked at her twin as the silence stretched on, with no answer to her question. Mira continued to stare at the ceiling, her once bored expression now full of irritation. As the silence continued, Aurora became certain that her twin's mind was else-where. Perhaps thinking about the same golden light that she was.

"I don't even think we will see another text, let alone the sky… unless we escape this wretched place."

"We know nothing else," Aurora stated solemnly. "How would we even escape, to a land we don't know?"

Mira scoffed as she abruptly sat up, turning to face her sister.

"We will die down here, dumb, and knowing nothing about our birthright." Mira threw the thin sheet off of her body and began pacing before the bed.

Aurora watched, her face that was normally a calm mask of indifference, showing her worry. Aurora glanced at the heavy wooden door that concealed them from those in the hall, wondering if any creatures lingered on the other side waiting to report to their queen.

"Settle,sister," Aurora whispered as she leaned across the small space to grab Mira's wrist. Her twin refused to be consoled, and yanked her arm away. With a piercing glare, Mira's anger was now directed to her sister.

"You would die here, with nothing, rather than find some way for use to return to even a semblance of what others know as a normal life."

Aurora's eyes watered. She wanted nothing more than to live in the land of her father, to meet the people that once knew her mother, and to finally be able to open her wings and feel the force of air as she soared from the tallest place she could find. She wanted to scream at her sister, rage to match her rage, instead her voice came out as a threadbare whisper. "That's not true, Mira."

"Well we have had hardly anything our whole lives, but now," Mira yelled as she threw her pillow across the room. Aurora, had her sister not have been so livid, would have laughed at the soft thud as the pillow his the stone wall and fell to the floor. Would have laughed, had the pillow not hit the wall where their vanity used to be, the lightest traces of dust outlining the place it had sat their whole lives. Would have laughed, had her sister's waterfilled eyes not followed the same line of sight to see what was taken from them. "Now... We truly have, are, nothing."

Aurora felt the sadness that she had refused to acknowledge try to claw its way up her throat. The stone sitting tight, as she tried to swallow it back down, only for it to stay caught in its place. She blinked rapidly, trying to force the blank expression that she had spent her whole life mastering onto her face. She had endured torture, had felt the claws of Amarantha's beast tear her skin as it taunted her, and yet an empty shelf would be what made her weep.

"They were just things, Mira. Just a shelf, just blanket, just trinket, that had no value."

"They were our whole lives," Mira quietly seethed, her eyes still fixated on what once was. "Everything from the day we were born. They might not have had monetary value, but it was all we had." Her watery eyes returned to her sister. "Does it not bother you? That she could do the same thing to our lives as she has done to our books. Disposed of with a simple command, and no one says a word."

Aurora did care, she was bothered. However, she was also rational enough to know that letting Amarantha destroy their things allowed their bodies to be spared. If she was focused on tearing apart their minds, their hope, then she would not be focused on the lashings that she loved to bring. While Aurora missed her music and books, she would rather Amarantha take the bed and leave her on the floor than to suffer at her hands. With the thought of relinquishing her body or her mind to the red witch, she muttered more firmly.

"They were just things, Mira."

Alike as the two twins might have been, this was clearly an area where they were not the same. While Aurora would rather give up all her possessions, feel the black claws of the Night Lord scraping her mind, rather than feel Amarantha's lashing claws on her skin, Mira was the opposite. Mira, the stronger of the two, would rather keep a blank look on her face as she laid before the queen for fifty lashes. Would spit the blood from her mouth onto the gray stones rather than have her father or sister before the queen. Mira had perfected the art of indifference when it came to physical pain, but could not carry the burden of mental anguish. Perhaps that why their things were gone. Amarantha, in all her cunning malice, recognized that no matter how many times Mira stood at her feet she would not break as easily as her skin. So, skin was replaced with the only semblance of a life that the twins were granted. She changed walking down the stone halls as a duo to creatures accompanying them to all the meetings. Sitting in their room reading was changed to a bed for them to share and empty space. Their elegant dresses changed to thin shifts that allowed all of the court to see them as the females they had become. But most significantly, the protection offered from others for the twin faeling children changed to the lust and politics in council meetings so that the court could claim their untouched skin and land that the two females had never seen.

The heartache that Mira felt at Aurora's words was pronounced. Aurora could see it written on her face. She did not know how to look at her sister, who was supposed to be identical to her in every way, and know that she had resigned herself to a barren immortal life beneath the mountain.

"It was all I was," Mira stated brokenly. "It was all we were."

Aurora sighed, rose from the bed, and made her way before her sister. She gently grabbed her twin's forearms, as she met watery gray-blue eyes with that of her own.

"We are more than anything that she can do," Aurora stated firmly. "We are more than any book. We are more than any whip. We are more than the blood she has spilt on our shoes." Her hand rose to wipe the tear that had escaped from her sister's eye away. "Do not weep for these things. As long as we have each other, our bodies and minds whole, we will persevere." A weak smile overtook her lips as she tried to summon the hope that she conveyed to her younger sister. "Do not let her take your hope to see the sky."

Mira let out an unlady like snort and rolled her eyes at her twin, her anger and grief subsiding at her sister's words. "Coming from the one who was asking me if we would ever get to see it."

Aurora smirked at her before releasing her and stepping back into her own space. "Well obviously I think we will, that's why I was asking you." Her voice held a teasing tone, one meant to reassure her sister and move on from their remorse. Mira, however, knew that her previous inquiry was less about Mira's opinion and more about her own troubles.

Avoiding a snide remark, Mira simply responded. "Then, I think we will… but I am not if I will recognize it outside of pictures or words on a page."

"Well, it will be pretty hard to miss."

Mira let out a quite laugh as she thought about the books on geography that she had read. Pictured the maps of thousands of cities, the continent, and beyond, and tried to imagine the endlessness of the sky over all of those places. A space, so vast, that she could fly and never reach the end of it. The variety of colors, from Dawn to Day to Night, and all the stages in the seasonal courts that it could be. A picture of golden and red hues as it crested over endless fields, like in the portrait that had hung above their bed since she could remember. She had red about it, but the reality of such a thing felt impossible.

"I suppose so."