Chapter Twelve
Eleven years prior…
She was a vision. Golden strands sat elegantly pinned to the side with a sun-colored lotus blossom and the rest trailed down her back in delicate ringlets.
The mostly white fabric of her gown shimmered in the Sun’s rays, giving Aurora the appearance of being an extension to the fiery ball in the sky.
As she twirled by the window - the very window our mother sat near and hummed softly to Aurora as she grew inside her, as well as the window that I would hold her to watch the city or comfort her in times of distress… I had to force myself to choke back everything that wanted to burst out.
Time is so cruel.
Slipping a light sigh through my lips, I stepped forward with her veil. Of all the pieces I put together for her wedding dress, the veil had become my most favorite.
It wasn’t just any dragons embroidered on the delicate lace - but the forms of myself, our mother, father, and Aurora. I debated about adding my father’s only to dismiss it when the political implications came to mind. As such, I put his form closer to the bottom hem of the veil, with the rest of us rising upwards as Aurora’s nearly reached the top. Specks of gold lay entwined with three of them with traces of silver on our father’s form. Her favorite lotus blossoms freckled the lace in various places. When I pinned it to the top of her crown, with a sparkling golden tiara to match, her look was complete and I was undone.
Fiery streams poured from my eyes as I took in this young woman who was just a child, my child.
“Don’t do that now!” She giggled at my mess of a self.
But how could I not? It wasn’t just my little Sun getting married. She was leaving home with someone I knew she cared for but didn’t return her affections. This marriage was more for duty than happiness and she was being sacrificed for the hope that the goddess would return. This wasn’t a joyous beginning - it was a tragic end.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a small vial containing a deep blue liquid, placing it in her palm.
“I will send more in a few days, but this is the prototype of the elixir to prevent maternity sickness. I’ve only just begun distributing it to other females already pregnant. I can’t guarantee… uummff”
Before I could finish, my nose collided with the tiara on her head as she embraced me tightly.
“Thank you.”
Her tone was so soft that I barely heard her words, but I did and returned her embrace just as tightly.
A spring sprinkle seemed appropriate, crying for my absence of tears, as I sat beside her, keeping her hand close to mine as if we were crossing the busy roads of Hyperion. Tight and secure. Our father sat across from us in an open carriage ride to the temple near the peak of the mountain range. Of course, he said nothing to either of us, not even how beautiful his precious daughter was in her wedding gown with her white lilies resting on her lap as she became a portrait of the divine.
One part of me wanted the carriage ride to be over so that I wouldn’t have to be so close to him. Although, a much larger part of me hoped we would never reach the top. But eventually we did arrive and I was forced to relinquish her small, delicate hand - the hand that clung to mine during many fearful flights, through chaotic midnight thunderstorms, and in her grief over the heart she would never gain as she walked towards him now.
And all I could do was watch her leave and pray to Thanatos and Hypnos that she would find happiness in some form and live a long enough life to enjoy that happiness.
