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profound-imagination · 7 months

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Tell Me Their Names - Ruhn Danaan

A/N - I love Ruhn so much and if anything happens to him in CC3 I'm never reading again! This could potentially be a series if there's interest!

T/W - Brief mentions of torture.

W/C - 2.9k

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"Tell me their names." She'd said to him one night after a particularly bad day of enduring Pollux. Ruhn raised his head from the floor as much as he could to look at her. "What?" He croaked. She settled herself in front of the bars separating the two of them. "Can you make it over here?" She whispered, "I can help you." It took all of the strength he had left but crawled over to her.

"Show me your wrists?" He could feel them now, those gorsian cuffs. The slight burn they left on his skin as they blocked his power. He offered them to her freely and watched curiously as she dug a small bone out from where she'd hidden it in a crack in the wall. Watched as she picked the lock on his cuffs and studied her face as they fell away. "We can't leave them off, but for now, we can let your Fae blood heal you, just a little bit."

"What about you?" He asked after a couple of moments of silence, lifting his arm that felt like lead to reach through the bars and ran a hand down her mangled cheek. "It'll heal fine, I'll have a nasty scar but it'll heal." She shrugged. "Pollux enjoys telling me that half of my face looks like a nightmare now as the Hind marches me past him everyday." Ruhn bristled. Despite the grime covering her, the scars that had been inflicted on her she was, in her own right, beautiful.

"I'm losing myself." He murmured to her in the darkness and her hand found his and squeezed. "Tell me their names, the ones you hold on for, the ones you think about to keep your mind alive." She asked him again. He squeezed her hand as he thought of each of them. "Bryce Quinlan, my little sister, the one who brought so much joy to my life. Declan Emmett and Tristan Flynn, my chosen brothers, Ithan Holstrom too, I don't deserve them or their loyalty. Hunt Athalar and Tharion Kestos, my friends." He felt the tear run down his face, and felt her lightly wipe it away. "What about you?" He asked her quietly, watched her as she hesitated. "I…I have no one." She admitted so quietly that if it wasn't for his Fae hearing he wouldn't have heard her. "I was an orphan, taken into the rebellion's ranks when I was too young to know the dangers, after they liberated the camp I was at and here I am."

They said nothing for a while, they just sat side by side in their cells, holding each other's hand like a life line. "What's your name?" He asked eventually. She let out what he thought was a small laugh. "Y/N, I don't remember my family name, what's yours?" He couldn't help thinking her name suited her perfectly. "Ruhn Danaan." She tensed, her hand stiffening in his. "As in, the crown prince?" She asked. He nodded. "I think I've been decrowned." She smiled and his chest flared, then nearly exploded as she giggled ever so slightly. "Look at me, the little human orphan girl, holding hands with the Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae." He couldn't help the small laugh he let out too.

"Someone's coming!" He nudged her awake, if not for the bars she'd have been asleep on his shoulder and he'd have pulled her as close to him as he could, as if he could shield her from this place. This little human whose name he had added to his list, who always pulled him back when he was returned to his cell night after night after that first interaction weeks ago when she'd removed his cuffs.

He thrust the cuffs through the bars to her to put back on his wrists. She did so quickly, hiding the bone back in its usual crack in the wall and she threw herself back to the floor on the other side of her cell with her back to him. He moved away from the bars and sat with his back against the back wall of his cell. "Night?" Lidia. Lidia had come. "Ruhn?" She asked again as she approached his cell.

He didn't move, he wasn't sure he was breathing as she stood there, Day. She wasn't The Hind. Not tonight. Tonight she was his Day. "I'm so sorry, Ruhn." He didn't respond, just stared at the female who'd betrayed him. "I spoke to Tristan Flynn." His face gave him away, she had his attention and she knew it. "He used the stone, and wanted to know if Agent Day could help rescue you in any way." He tensed. "They're coming Night, they're all coming. Bryce found help. Your sister and your brothers are coming for you. I've ensured they've got a way in and I'll ensure they have one out as well. Just hold on a little bit longer." She walked away. They both knew what they'd had was gone. He would get her out of here if he could. Keep her safe, but he wasn't sure he could feel for her what he once had. Not when it was Lidia that caused most of the scars on his little human, not when it was nightmares of Lidia and what she inflicted on Y/N that drove her from sleep every night.

That all seemed so long ago now. He remembered the fear of his sister and his brothers coming for him but they had and they'd won with the help Bryce had bought with her. He'd insisted Y/N came with them, he wouldn't leave her there to find her own way. The others had realised this as soon as they'd gotten outside of the walls. Ruhn was still carrying her despite his broken body. She looked so small, so broken, scars littered her face and arms, her left ankle sat at an odd angle from where it had been broken and left to heal wrong. She was pale and so thin he noticed now they were in the sunlight.

He snarled at even his friends when they tried to help him, to carry her instead. He would yield her only to Ithan. To carry on his back while in his wolf form. He was faster than Ruhn, faster than Flynn and Dec and he'd get her out of there if the fight turned on them. Hunt wasn't an option, the Angel was just as broken as he was and Ruhn knew he'd snatch Bryce and fly if it came to it, leaving the rest of them. Y/N sighed into Ithan's fur when Ruhn gently placed her on his back, fisting a handful of it and mumbled, "Soft." Ruhn's heart clenched.

Ruhn bared his teeth and took up a defensive stance in front of Y/N and Ithan as three winged landed in front of them. Hunt growled as he took up the spot next to Ruhn. Bryce was in front of Hunt, murmuring to him. Flynn appeared in front of Ruhn. "They're with us, bro. They helped us get you out. Relax, they aren't a threat to you, or her." Ruhn stared at his brother as the males continued to approach. Two of them stopped dead, staring at him. The larger of the three males continued to approach before realizing his companions had stopped and returned to them.

"We need to get out of here." Ruhn croaked at Flynn. His friend nodded. "We will, but there's a lot to explain so I need you to not freak out, okay?" Ruhn looked down at his little human again. "Will…will she be safe?" Declan placed a hand on Ruhn's shoulder. "I promise." It was then that he noticed Lidia and Tharion approaching, good, he thought, thay they'd freed her as well. Ruhn followed his friends towards the three males, he kept pace with Ithan, keeping one hand on Y/N at all times.

"Ruhn, this is Rhysand, Azriel and Cassian." His sister told him, pointing to each of the males in turn. "I didn't end up in Hel, I ended up in a place called Prythian, in the Kingdom of the Night Court, where Rhysand and his mate Feyre are High Lord and Lady." Ruhn studied the males just as they were studying him and then the one called Rhysand turned his attention to Hunt. "This must be your mate, Bryce Quinlan. Hunt is it? We've heard lots about you." Hunt met his gaze, unmoving and unfaltering. Unafraid after what he had just been subjected to. Ruhn was proud to call Hunt Athalar his friend.

"Is she hurt?" Cassian, the larger of the three males asked Ruhn, dragging all their attention to Y/N who had fallen asleep on Ithan's back in moments. It made his heart swell that she felt safe enough with his friend to fall asleep. Ruhn didn't have time to answer, to deflect before the little human who had changed him so much in the most awful of places began to scream. Nightmares, Lidia was haunting her again. Ruhn pulled her off of Ithan's back as gently as he could while shooting a look at Lidia and sunk to the ground, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping her in his arms to his chest as he wished he could've done during so many nights when she woke up screaming. As soon as her eyes sprung open and her hands fisted the remnants of his t-shirt, he began to talk into her hair.

"Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess, who loved her kingdom." She took shuddering breaths as Ruhn recounted the story of Aelin Galathynius. Her favourite story, he knew. The others watched on as he calmed her. Bryce had tears of her own as she watched her broken brother wrap himself around this human girl as if he alone could shield her from all that she'd been through and all that was to come. "We need to go!" It was Azriel who broke the silence, looking into the distance.

Ruhn stood, Y/N still wrapped in his arms as Declan explained that he'd just have to trust what was about to happen. Rhysand approached him and held out a hand. "Hold on tight, don't let go of me or her." Ruhn nodded, adjusted Y/N like she was a child he was carrying on his hip and took Rhysands outstretched hand. Darkness engulfed them and Ruhn felt like he was being folded in half, he tightened the arm he had around her and she tightened one of her arms around Ruhn's neck. Rhysand didn't seem to mind that her other arm had shot out and grabbed hold of him.

Suddenly the darkness was gone and they stood in a meadow with what Ruhn recognised as one of the gates nearby. "Stay here." Rhysand instructed him as he disappeared just as Azriel appeared with his sister and Hunt who looked down right murderous. "Are we going through the gate?" Y/N mumbled into his neck. Ruhn looked at his sister for an answer. "Yes, we are. We might have weakened them and got you out but this isn't over, you need to heal and we need a proper plan." She told him and Hunt. Both males nodded, far too exhausted to argue and go to war right this second. "You won't be wanted criminals where we're going, it'll be safe." That was all Ruhn needed to hear, he'd take Y/N there, make sure she was safe, see if they had a healer who could fix her ankle, ensure she was set up for life, he'd heal and he'd come back and wage war on the Asteri.

Y/N slid down his side as Flynn and Dec approached, his grip tightened on her as he shot her a panicked look but she just smiled up at him and said "Reunite with your brothers, hug your sister." Ithan huffed at her side, his body supporting her and she placed a hand at the scruff of his neck to support herself.

Ruhn knelt in front of Ithan first. "It's good to see you, pup. Your job is to keep her safe when I can't, okay?" The wolf nodded his large head in agreement. He stood and faced his brothers. Dec and Flynn stood side by side, covered in dust and blood, Ruhn took a step towards them and then another, then he was running as best he could and they were running at him. He wasn't ashamed to say the three of them shed tears as they met in the middle in a tangle of arms. No words were spoken, none were needed. These were his brothers and they'd die for him, just like he'd die for them.

Bryce was crying before he'd even reached her. Hunt yielded her to him only long enough for them to share an embrace, for Ruhn to tell his little sister how proud he was of her and that he loved her. He cried with her as she clung to him, her first hero, she called him, who she wanted to be when she grew up. Ruhn wished he could take back the bad blood between them and swore that now he had the time, he'd make up for it.

"Are we ready?" Rhysand asked when the tears had stopped, Bryce nodded, answering for them all. Cassian and Azriel went through the gate first, followed by Lidia, Tharion, Declan and Flynn. Bryce kissed Hunt and lead him through the gate. "Ready to heal and have an adventure, Tiny?" Ruhn asked Y/N, she grabbed his hand, tightened the one she had on Ithan and nodded. Rhysand led the three of them through.

Ruhn had never seen somewhere as beautiful as where they walked out of the gate. They were on a mountain looking down at a town. The lights twinkled in the darkness and it was magnificent. The stars above him shone brighter than at home and a small gasp from next to him pulled his attention from the sky. "I can't remember the last time I saw stars." His little human breathed, he gently pulled her into his side, he'd bring her outside to see them every gods damned night if she wanted. "Wait until starfall." A female voice said from behind them.

"Hello Feyre Darling." Rhysand purred at the female, "I thought I told you to stay at home." The female, Feyre, smiled at him, "I could sense you were back, I winnowed up to meet you, Nyx is safe with Mor." Rhysand kissed her then, a kiss that was full of promise for what the night held for the two of them. "This is my mate and High Lady of the Night Court, Feyre." Rhysand introduced her. Feyre smiled at them all as she hugged Bryce. "Welcome to Velaris."

#ruhn x reader #ruhn danaan #crescent city #house of sky and breath #house of earth and blood #hosab #hoeab #ruhn danaan x reader

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noctivague · 1 year

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Ancient Greek & Roman Knot Magic - Part. 4

Some quotes from “Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds : a sourcebook” by Daniel Ogden

Decided to break down this post into multiple ones because the quotes are too damn long. See the end of the post for links to the other ones.

The point of this is just to do some research on folklore and look for inspiration.

An old woman activates a twisted-thread anti-impotence amulet

"I strolled about a bit and had sat down in the same place as the day before, but CHrysis soon came along, dragging a little old woman after her. After saying hello she asked, "Well, my proud man, have you begun to feel better?" The old woman produced a cord from the folds of her dress, twisted together from threads of different color, and she tied it around my neck. Then she mixed some dust with spit, took it up on her middle finger, and drew a sign on my forehead, despite my objections . . . . When she had completed the spell she bade me spit three times over and drop some pebbles down my robe three times over. She had kept these stones, which she had charmed, wrapped in purple. She applied her hands and began to test the vigor of my loins. Sooner than you could say it, the muscles jumped on command, and the old woman's hand were filled with great upheavel. She was overjoyed and said, "Do you see, my Chrysis, what a hare this thing is that I have started for others to chase?" Petronius, Satyricon, 66 AD, greek

Hera and Aphrodite's embroidered band

"Lady Hera adressed Aphrodite with cunning in her mind: "Now give me love and desire, with which you subdue all the immortals and mortal men too. For I am goinng to go to see the boundaries of the bountiful earth and Oceanus, the sire of the gods, and mother Tethys, who reared and nurtured men in their house, after they had taken me over from Rheia, when far-shooting Zeus forced Cronus beneath the land and the unputes. Forn they have been avoiding sex and love with each other for a long time now, since anger fell upon their hearts. If I could talk the couple's dear hearts round, and bring them to go to bed and unite with each other in love, they would evermore call me dear and revere me."

Laughter loving Aphrodite replied to her: "It is neither possible nor seemly to deny your request, for you sleep in the arms of the greatest God, Zeus."

So she spoke, and she took her variegated embroidered band [kestos himas] from her breast, in which she had wrought all charms. In it there was love, in it there was desire, in it there was sweet intimacy, which steals the wits of even the sensible. She put it in Hera's hands and spoke to her, addressing her by name: "Take this variegated band now, in which all things have been wrought, and tie it accross your bossom. I can tell you that you will not come back without effecting the thing you desire in you heart."

Homer, Iliad

Links:

Part 1 - tongue binding

Part 2 - to bring back a lover

Part 3 - love + dedication to Aphrodite

#knot magic #roman magic #greek magic #folk magic

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