Displaced. Disgraced. Alone. Her father had lost the Cove and thus Serenity's illusion of safety was broken. She was suddenly keenly aware of the nothingness that she had. Even her dearest friend, her sister by choice, her beloved Mazikeen, was nowhere to be found. The girl she had chased to the ends of the Earth when they'd been younger had slipped through her fingers like sand. She had her father. Her mother. Her little baby sister. And yet each of them had slipped away too. Solomon was gone. She had looked up to her father like he hung the stars in the sky, and when she'd been a child she thought he was surely tall enough to have done so. Her mother was demure. Quiet. Weak. Nothing like the woman Serenity wanted herself to be. The name? A cruel joke from the moment it slipped past her mother's lips.
Silvana said Serenity was born with her ears back. She called it having spirit and praised her for it. The others just called her a bitch. She supposed they were right. Hope had been a different story. Whatever cruel streak Serenity had inherited had seemingly missed Hope and the minute she was born all Silvana's attentions were placed upon her. And when Solomon lost the Cove, Silvana had ushered Hope to the Arch. She remembers her mother did not even turn to check if she was following. Instead she left Serenity standing there with tears frozen to her cheeks.
She didn't hate them. She couldn't hate them, despite everything. The swim to the mainland had been exhausting, though the tears had stopped. Her pale eyes, still misty, stared across the expanse of the Common. Serenity did not wear her signature smug smile or raised brow. She was sad and it radiated from her like a light. As she passed horse after horse she did not even pay them any mind. She stumbled upon a large tree, and thankful for the excuse, let exhaustion finally take her. She dropped onto her side and pulled her legs up to her side. She didn't sleep. She knew she'd never be safe again.my heart still beats and my skin still feels
my lungs still breathe, my mind still fears |
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