Elara's POV,
The green dress hugs my chest so tightly, I fear it's a plan of Lucien to not let me breathe and die of suffocation during the gala.
"Mummy, you're so beautiful."
I turn with a wide smile on my face, and walk to meet Asher who was doing his homework on my bed.
"I'm so beautiful?" I shuffle his hair, and gently place my forehead on his. "You're so handsome. Such a shame you can't come with us, you'd send all the ladies running to you."
He laughs, and turns back to his book, blushing. I take note of it and smirk, "What? You wouldn't like that?"
He shakes his head, still avoiding my eyes.
"Grandma says I look like father when he was younger." He shrugs, then looks up at me. "But I don't have any talents like father."
"What?"
He sits up. "Yesterday, my classmates were showing off their drawings and paintings. One boy even played the clarinet. But I didn't do anything. One girl said maybe I don't have any talent."
"Talent?" I scoff, arranging the bulky dress to sit beside him. "I wasn't born with anything either. Everything I have, I earned through effort. Your father is one of the strongest people I know, what do you think kept him going?"
He adjusts himself, crosing his legs under him as he sat facing me, "What?"
"Determination. Passion. Effort.." I shake my head, smile and gently hold his shoulders. "Not talent. It isn't the most important thing in the world. All those and…"
"Love?"
My smile increases, and I hug him to my chest. "Love, my darling. Maybe you have no talent. Or maybe no one's looked close enough yet."
I kiss the top of his head, "I have. And I see something the world hasn't even caught up to yet. You are your mother's son. Your father's son. Don't let the world decide anything for you."
He looks up at me with a grin. "So, you're not disappointed in me?"
"Of course not. Never. What have I always told you?"
"Whatever you become, whatever I become, whatever the world takes from us, I'm yours and you are mine."
"Our love stays forever."
"Our love stays forever."
We say together, and I bite my lip. "Okay, so how do you know your father has talent? What talent?"
He tilts his head, "Haven't you been to his room?"
No.
I just smile. My son was smart, he would obviously catch on if I tell him I've never been to his father's room but he has.
"Asher!" We hear Lucy call from downstairs. ""The cookies are ready!"
"Ouu!" He hops down from the bed, almost falling. "Lucy and I made cookies for you guys to take in case you get hungry."
Such an angel.
"How thoughtful." I stand, brushing the dress. "Hurry along now."
"I love you, mum."
I nod one and wink at him. "Love you too, baby."
He shut the door a bit too loudly and I walked over to the mirror. The green dress Lucien had given to Isolde to give me was still tight across the chest but it was beautiful.
I run my hand down my waist, feeling how perfectly it dips, and how the gown itself narrows just enough before flowing out again.
From the front, the neckline drapes gently, teasing more than revealing. I like how fragile it looks, even though I know it won't fall.
I shift slightly, watching how the dress follows.
Then there's the bare back.
It feels like I'm letting the world look a little closer than it should. My hair is pinned up to leave everything exposed.
Everything.
I don't look at my back often.
Not because I can't but because I don't need reminding.
The mirror catches it anyway; a pale, jagged line cutting across my skin. The scar starts just below my shoulder blade…and drags down to my waist, uneven, and cruel.
It's ugly.
Raised in some places, faded in others. Surrounded by smaller marks, thin lines, old burns, and other things that was never allowed to heal properly.
I hate it. I hate looking at my back because it is proof of a version of me I refuse to acknowledge.
I raise my hands to my hair, fingering threading it softly to tie it up. I'm supposed to be strong. I survived.
But I let it fall back down, covering the ugly scar. I drag my fingers through my hair, pulling it forward over my shoulder, and making sure every inch of my back is hidden.
No one needs to see it because it's not a reminder of strength but a reminder that I was once powerless.
I close my eyes, flinching a bit when I remember the screams and crashing sounds.
FLASHBACK
"She attacked me!" Anya screams through the halls, running up to her mother while I cradle the bones of my cat.
Oh, Miracle.
Miracle was a stray cat I had taken in after they fired Lucy. Miracle was hungry, sick and had a broken leg but I took her in. She never left me. She stayed.
She never judged me and saw me as someone important.
But I had just come back from trimming the flowers, only to find Anya close to the fireplace, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
She smiled wickedly and said, "Such a nuisance, your cat."
I saw red, and that was the first time I ever attacked Anya. I blindly pushed her into the fire, and she stood before she got burned. She screamed and wanted to sprint to her mother,, but I pulled her back by the hair and slammed her to the floor.
She managed to kick my frail body off of hers and ran, screeching.
My tears flowed onto Miracle's bones.
"...Oh, Miracle." I wailed, my vision blurry. "I failed you. I'm so sorry."
I was still crying when my stepmother arrived, took one look at me and kicked me into fire.
I didn't get up on time, and my clothes were worn out, so the fire burned through them and onto my back. I shrieked and blindly attacked Dorine.
She just slapped me once, and it felt like my neck broke.
"You fool!" She picked me up with one hand, sneering down at me. "Who do you think you are?! Today, you'll regret your very life."
She dragged me into the courtyard, and I kicked, wanting to go back for Miracle's bones.
She threw me into the fountain, and I cried out because of the pain of the burns. I just looked up at the grey skies.
It's going to rain soon, I thought. Good.
Before a second thought, I felt the blinding, white pain. The thorny whip collided with my back.
Just once before Matteo hurried outside, held his wife's hand and whispered something in her ears.
"But she almost–"
"Tomorrow, I promise, my love." He held her. "She'll be gone."
They left me in the fountain which had turned red because of the blood flowing into it.
All I could think of was,
"...Miracle."