so darling, darling stand by me
ohh stand by me, stand by me
ohh stand by me, stand by me
Once, four words had made her swollen heart a ravaged wasteland of would-be's and could-be's. But now.. now, only three words stop her heart from where it beats madly in her chest. Only three words. Only —
Reich hypnotized me.
Florentine's words are a murmur that coaxes Aislinn's storm with the right spark. All she knows is the rush of the blood pounding in her ears, and the air that has become ignited in her lungs. She is a blazing spear of lightning, carefully bound in the constraints of ebony skin and muscles that coil from those whispers. There is a hairsbreadth where the lightning in her blood and bones sizzles. Beautifully. Wickedly. But now, the darkness inside her growls, but she answers it with a crackle of thunder. She would no longer be eclipsed by it's shadows, it's hell. No longer would she allow him to claw at her insides from where her broken heart had once laid tattered.
In this moment, she forever decides to do what she had forsaken for too long.
She would not be quiet. Not anymore. For not only her sake, but now, for Florentine's.
The queen's words and lips tremble, and it is all she can do to not swoop her into an embrace; to calm the sea of her emotions. But it is her own battlefield, and Aislinn can only stand at it's edge in fear that if her wrath were unleashed, Flora would be caught in the eye of her storm. She would be the carnage breathing destruction on this cliff, in the wake of the people who revel here. She would be the lightning that showers upon their snowy expanse in swords of starlight, unbidden and dangerous and so so alive. She would be the bloodied wraith in the dark, as she screams upon the demon's face with the anger and power of a million storms. She would be Calligo's stormsinger, answering the vengeance she so rightfully sought for both her own heart, but now the heart of the Dusk queen. Her spring goddess. Her friend. Her sister not bound by blood.
How many hearts did the demon have to break before he stopped the pain left in the wake of his shadows?
I am scared to lose you to.
Florentine sweeps in her close, and Aislinn can feel every beat of their twin hearts where their skin touch. Ink and gold, the setting sun and the moon. They are cocooned in the snow that swirls around them in phantom kisses of crystal on this night. But her skin is too hot, burning, as her insides are ignited by the spark of Florentine's words. She has become a soldier on not only her own war, her own emotions that battle within her soul, but now she is a general in the golden woman's kingdom that has fallen victim to the demon's treachery. He had conquered both of their hearts like the boy king he was. Now, he had left the cities of their hearts ruined. Emptied. Ransacked and left to the dust of history to erase as he fell in love with someone else. And now.. now, that demon has a god damn name.
Reichenbach.
Aislinn can only wrap her neck around the sun-kissed woman closer, closer, closer. In hope that maybe, possibly, she will not be undone by the rage that kindles inside her chest. Winter winds whip around them angrily, smacking the wilds of her mane around her face and eyes from where they are tightly closed. She breathes in the drops of gold upon Flora's skin, finding a solace in their comfort, in the lavender blossoms that float in around them. Just like the night they had met, she finds a home in those purple flowers, and in the warmth that seeps into her skin in their embrace. But this time, when she pulls away and blinks upwards to meet Flora's gaze.. silver does not line her eyes.
Oh no; now, the blue her orbs are hurricanes that swirl. They are pools that match the magic that sings in her blood. They are mirrors that reflect the fury that blinds her world in shades of red. Her voice is an equal thunder that does not shake. No, Aislinn has become a steady stone that meets an untamed sea. Even, without remorse. Without hesitation. "Look at me," she commands, "you are a queen now. You do what is right for you and for your people. The crown is heavy, but you have to do what you think is right. I will not counsel you to do otherwise."
The stormsinger steps away, the flurries of snow dancing in wild twirls along the dark of her skin. Below, far, far below, the sea crashes along the cliff face in a match to her internal screams. Her gaze flickers sidelong, seeing nothing and everything at once. The air teases her feathers, her wings, in whispers of ice and the taste of blood on her lips. She does not meet the amethyst of her eyes as she says, "I will not apologize for his fate in the matter."
She knows only this: she will make him pay. She was no longer afraid.
Aislinn turns, slow and unfurling the great expanse of her wings. Before she can vanish, her lips part, soft and deadly. A promise made once more on the falling star of tears. "You will not lose me. That I can promise."
@
"Aislinn speech."
