Luci went completely and utterly still.
She lowered the book from her face and found Brielle smiling up at her, Calcifer already above her and licking her forehead, which didn’t faze her at all.
Heart in her throat, Luci dropped the book, hands shaking.
“That bad, hmm?” Brielle asked. “I wasn’t worried, you know, I believed in you.”
If there was ever a time Luci could remember that felt like this, it was buried deep in her memories. All of a sudden, she was standing next to her mother’s body again, begging her to takeone more breath. Except this time she did. She did, and she was there. Alive.
Brielle sat up, her smile falling, and Calcifer huffing out a frustrated breath that his cleaning was being ignored.
“I’m all right, Luci. In fact, I feel better than I ever have. Nothing hurts, and I’m fairly certain I could run a mile,” she said, running a hand down Luci’s tear-streaked face.
For days, Luci lay in bed and thought about this moment. She imagined telling Brielle not
to be so dramatic from then on, or forbid her from talking to Lucien ever again. Never, in her wildest dreams, did she expect to be paralyzed in time, heart cracking and reforming with every gesture and word.
For there, undoubtedly sitting before her in a pale blue nightgown with golden hair and full lips was the reason for her heart’s every beat. The piece to her soul that latched together at only five years old. A piece that was more a part of her than her own limbs. Brielle. Her best friend. Her soul mate.
“You died.” Luci whimpered, lips quivering.
It was like all the strength she’d used to be brave was used up. The moment Brielle spoke, Luci’s body could no longer go on pretending that she hadn’t been terrified beyond return. All the panic she’d suppressed, all the fears, all the loss boiled up to the surface, and she couldn’t breathe.
Silver lined Brielle’s eyes before gently falling down her porcelain skin. She reached up and wiped at Luci’s tears, and it was then that Luci realized her whole body was trembling. Terror and heartache leak from every surface, nowhere to hide.
“I’m here. You didn’t lose me. I’m right here. I’m here because of you. You saved me, Luci. You did that. I’m here. I’m all right. I’m going to be just fine,” she said the words quietly, like she was afraid to scare Luci.
All at once, Luci’s vision blurred, and she crashed into Brielle like a wave desperate to
touch the shore’s sun soaked sands. And there she clung to her, resolute in her determination to never return to the sea. She was the sand and the sand was her. Where there was Brielle, there would always be Luci, as it was always meant to be.
Brielle held onto her with an iron-clad grip, never for a moment letting go. She weathered all of Luci’s stormy winds, her tears, and her desperation. Words lost to emotion clogging all her senses. A fortnight of worries poured out onto her, but Brielle never wavered.
Slowly, ever so quietly, the tears dried up, and the shaking subsided. Luci convinced herself Brielle was real and this wasn’t a dream. She let herself believe the words when Brielle repeated that she was all right and that everything would be fine.
And when the tears and the pain were poured empty, Brielle let out a long breath and said into Luci’s shoulder, “You smell terrible.”
Beneath choked laughter, Luci did something she’d spent her whole life running from.
She believed.
Chapter thirty-one
Threads Undone
They say even glass slippers grow soft in the warmth of true kindness. And some girls are not saved by princes—but by their own courage.
-From Thorns to Thrones: Fairy Tales of the Realm
Maybe it was unethical, but Luci was selfish enough that she hoarded every second with
Brielle was enough to forgo telling anyone else she was awake. Instead, Brielle and Luci sat with Calcifer curled up in Brielle’s lap and shared Luci’s dinner, which was a ridiculous array offood once more. Of course, this was only after Brielle forced Luci to wash up and change, stating she was conscious now and under no circumstances would she be sharing a bed with someone who avoided bathing for years.
Dramatic as always.
Yet with freshly washed hair and the scent of lavender clinging to her body, she was grateful to feel a little more human. Though that was primarily thanks to the heartbeat sitting cross-legged before her.
She watched Brielle bite into a strawberry and smiled at the way she closed her eyes and hummed with approval. Very Brielle.