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Roses and Thorns Revisited
TW: self-harm, abuse
She’d done well. She’d been calm. Collected. Her grandmother had talked, told her a lot. It was good. A successful mission. She had told her so much. Too much, perhaps. Peg’s head pounded, too many thoughts pressing against her skull.
"No, dearest, he didn't want you at all."
Just when she was starting to think maybe she could make things better. Maybe her father could find a way to still love her. None of it was real.
Had her mother known? Is it why she hated her so?
Peg wrapped her arms around herself. It made so much sense. Her awful mother, the one she had come to despise, who she had learned to tell herself did not really know her…maybe she did afterall? Maybe she saw the destruction that her child could bring and she dealt with it the only way she knew how. Maybe it would have been better if one of those times her mother had beaten her, she had actually died.
She shivered, trying to wrap tighter around herself, folding herself smaller. She tried to breathe, but her chest felt tight and the air felt like fire.
The rose and thorn in one.
She tore at the sleeve of her dress, clawing at the tattoo of roses and thorns that ran up her arm. Fire flickered on her fingertips and burned her skin beneath them.
Her father. Her mind couldn’t even find a place to start…how much did he know? Why had he taken the eye? Why give it to her…
Dolly.
She felt sick.
One thing from home that always felt safe. Sure. Comforting. None of that was real either. Nothing. Nothing was real. Nothing could be trusted. Nothing.
Fair of face and black of heart…
She drew the dagger from her belt, slicing it across her face in one swift motion. Blood streamed from her forehead and her cheek, stinging her eye and creating an unpleasant taste in her mouth.
…and then she stopped. There, on her finger curled around the jeweled hilt of a dagger, a small faceted garnet set into hammered copper froze time.
Someday.
Whatever came next, she needed to make sure there was a someday.
Continue reading...
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Who Doesn't Like a Good Soiree?
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Peg's Playlist
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Memories in Rain
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Consequences
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Mother Knows Best
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Always Too Much
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The Early Days
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The Akmon Appreciation Society
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Who Are You Fooling?
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Pretending
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Grim Things
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Childish Make-Believe
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Failure
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Afraid to Die
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Loved Until
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To Trust Yourself
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A Normal Life
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Roses and Thorns
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Through a Glass Darkly, Part One
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A Little Better?
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The Younger Orlov Daughter
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Choices and Actions
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Through a Glass Darkly, Part Two
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Roses and Thorns Revisited
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Adventures in Avalon
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Home
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Eyes
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Of Bravery and Cowardice
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Heroes and Villians
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Scars and Gaping Wounds
Find your way!
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