show them the joy and the pain and the ending
She has never bowed to anyone, and she most certainly would not start now. Her submission would be long in coming, and if he were waiting for it, he would wait an eternity.
The worst things she had ever feared have already come to pass, and she had not only survived, but thrived. She had lost her love, the only man who had ever meant as much to her as her brother. And she had lost her powers, her entire identity. There is nothing else that could be taken from her.
Nothing but her pride, her dignity. Without those, she truly would have nothing.
And perhaps that is the only thing she has left to fear. Somehow, someway, he finds those strings. Finds them and tugs. Plucks and pulls until they tremble through her, lingering in the darkest corners of her mind, renewing dread she hadn't even known existed.
It squeezes her lungs like a vice, locking her muscles in place and forcing her breathes to come in shorter and shorter bursts.
But she perseveres. She grits her teeth and refuses to bow to him. She would not give him this, the last that is left to her.
He looks as though he is enjoying her misery, causing anger to spider through her like fragile cracks. ”Jump… off a cliff… and die,” she gasps through clenched teeth.
Perhaps not the most clever of comebacks, but the best she can manage under such terrible duress.
heartfire
i filled up my senses with thoughts from the ghosts