#mine: black lightning | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lilyharvord · 9 months

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hey girl, won't you write more?

Current writing projects:

“You shouldn’t let them so obviously get to you.”

Clutching her hat in her fist she glared at Maven. He tilted his head to the side respectfully before gesturing back the way he had come with his champagne. “It will only make it worse.”

“It would have been fine if you hadn’t opened your mouth.” Mare tried to keep from saying the words through clenched teeth but her jaw already ached from grinding down on the rest of what she wanted to say.

“I’m not about to let them insinuate things about Cal.”

“But it’s fine if they do it about me.”

“None of that conversation was about you.” He spoke quietly, like he always did.

Letting loose a barking laugh, Mare shook her head and set a sardonic smile on him. “Because talking about how your brother got turned away from proposing with the one ring he always wanted to propose with has nothing to do with me.”

Maven’s lips twitched into a half frown before he leaned his arms on the railing next to her. “It’s just a ring.”

“Clearly not to him.”

Maven tipped his glass and let the liquid gold spill into the sea. Three years ago Mare would have blanched at him pouring out what was probably a two hundred dollar glass of champagne over the side of the boat. Now she barely blinked. She wasn’t sure anymore what that said about her.

“If he wanted to propose. He would. Our father didn’t even get the family ring when he married Cal’s mother. He had to go have that ring specially made.”

Mare’s chest constricted. She tended to avoid their father like the plague unless she absolutely had to interact with him, but the more time she spent with the Cal the harder it was for her to think the man was just a plain old monster. He had been young and in love once too, so desperately in love that when that love died, he married for necessity and barely dealt with the offspring from that marriage.

“Since my date has decided not to show up, you’re up to bat pretty boy. Show me a good time.” She grinned as she brought the glass to her lips and drained it in one swallow. He froze to watch her and then tried to replicate her movement. His uncle had taught him how to drink spirits like whiskey and bourbon, but he had always preferred to drink anything else. It immediately burned a trail down his throat and he tried desperately not to cough as he set the glass back down. He caught her watching him out of the corner of his eyes and smirked at her. For the first time since he’d seen her, she blushed a hint. It was a barely there splash of color on her cheeks but it was adorable.

“What are we shooting next?” He swallowed thickly again to chase the husk out of his voice that the whiskey left behind. Her eyes flashed at the sound and she leaned a little closer to him to look up at him through her lashes. It wasn’t hard, she was so much smaller than him, but it certainly made his stomach clench in a knot.

“You get one shot of courage.” She whispered. For the first time in a long time he felt the weight on his shoulders lift as she rested her chin on her fist and smiled at him. In his heart of hearts, he hoped she smiled at him like that for the rest of his life.

Half way up the mountain, I realize that my feet are simply carrying me to the Estate. I have no plan for when we walk through those doors again. I only know that I’m not exactly ready for everyone to see us just yet. I want a few hours to revel in this new truth, this new path that we are finally walking together. His hand is so warm in mine, his fingers knotted with mine in such a way that I wonder if we’ll be able to disentangle them at some point.

I glance at him over my shoulder, a faint afternoon mountain breeze stirring the loose strands of my hair. They’re brittle with dried sweat now, and I can feel the salt caked near my hairline from the same problem. I’d love a shower, or a bath, or anything in that vein. But I also don’t want to let go of him, or lose sight of him. Some part of me fears that if I let go, our whole conversation will fade like a dream.

We step over the threshold of the doors Evangeline led me out of only an hour or two ago. There are not many people in the hallway at this time. Everyone must be knee deep in meetings upstairs. That will be to our advantage.

Shade felt the moment his mouth fell open and stayed that way as he dragged his eyes up to meet hers. Those amber irises were dark and rimmed red with unshed tears, and there was blood smeared across her face too.

“Fuck Cori.” Was all he said as he tried not to throw up when he looked back down at her hands that were trying to stanch the blood flow with a towel and sew at the same time.

“Get out.” Was all she said, and the fire behind those words was enough to make him almost turn around, close the door and leave. But he rose to his full height instead, and then edged into the bathroom before slowly pulling the door closed behind him. It felt like a silly precaution. Their parents were not going to be home until tomorrow afternoon. But it felt like he had created a small bubble of privacy, and Coriane was bleeding faster than she could stitch, that was clear.

“If I leave, I think you might bleed out in the bathroom, and I think if mom and dad find you like that then they will bring you back just to kill you themselves.” He reasons as he edges around the blood puddle closest to the shower. He stood over her, and then tilted his head to the side as he took her in. “And you’d probably have to explain to them why you were bleeding out in the bathroom at one thirty in the morning too.”

He saw the fight leave her eyes for a second before she drew her lips into a tight line. “When I tell you to get out, it is for a reason.”

“I literally just said—”

“I’m older, and I’m in charge when mom and dad aren’t home. So get out!” She half screamed as she drove the needle through the other side of the wound and pulled to sew it shut more. Shade felt his stomach heave at the sight of the two ends coming together with the ugly green thread their aunt had left behind when she came by to sew the hem of something or another.

“You’re literally bleeding out in the fucking bathroom and you’re trying to pull rank? Are you serious?” Shade hissed as he grabbed another towel when he spotted the new river of blood that came with her pulling harder on the thread.

She withdrew her hands enough that Mare was able to breathe, but the younger woman did not remove her hands from Farley’s body. There was something dark in her eyes as she wheezed for breath. Thunder crashed outside, and the light on the table flickered and buzzed in time with the hum of lightning popping off of Mare’s fingers. She contained it to barely a few sparks but it was enough of a threat. Farley had seen what she could do with less.

“You are lucky I swore never to kill someone in front of my child.” Mare whispered, her voice coming out hoarse already from the pressure Farley had put on her throat.

Letting her eyes slowly drift up, Farley saw the same tiny form huddled by the doorway again, shaking softly. The flickering light flashed across the tear streaks running down her cheeks. Something in Farley shattered, and she released Mare completely with a weak exhale as she scrambled away from her. Mare coughed for a moment, reaching up to rest her fingers against her throat. Her eyes turned in the direction Farley could not turn away from, and her voice was cool as she said, “Go upstairs, Coriane.”

The little girl shook her head, and clung to the doorway, her voice wobbling as she whimpered her noncompliance. Her eyes darted between Farley and Mare, before settling on Farley as more tears soaked her cheeks.

#(*ask lily*)#(*shut up lily*)#red queen #glass sword #kings cage #war storm #broken throne #post broken throne #my writing #my fanfics #welp #two of them are chapters being added to a popular fic of mine #one is a one shot i've been wanting to write for a while #another is a fade to black #and finally... a lil secret project that I may or may not post #it was based on a fanart I saw that made me think of older mare... and a long coat... and standing on a cliff using her lightning #listen it's a work in progress #sorry I've been mostly bouncing through projects trying to find the muse #she's being very elusive though

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