“Dance with me?”
“Not today, Ghost.”
“But… it is Asu. You always dance with me during Asu.”
Solace sighs, “You danced with Kythis, did you not? Surely that should suffice.”
Ghost fights the disappointment worming its way into her stomach as he leads Ros toward the door, on his way to his room, no doubt. She clenches and unclenches her fists in an uneven pattern, her tail whips around behind her, wild with a mind of its own as disappointment quickly ebbs into rage.
“He flirted with me, danced with me, and you didn’t even care! You still don’t care! You- you just watched! If I hadn’t stepped away, would you have even done anything?” Rage escapes into a desperate plea; one that goes unanswered as silence fills and envelops the room, Solace’s presence fading as if he had never even visited at all. A voice rasps dryly from her lips, one she hardly recognizes, begging for a response even now that he has left her once more.
“Why do you even visit me?”
A loud sound of breaking glass startles her and she flinches, curls her tail close to her side, turns to stare blankly at the bottle now lying shattered on the floor. She understands why Solace can trust Ros and not her. He had lived inside Ros’ head for years, understood Ros’ every thought and intention. Trust had never come easily to him, not without that kind of connection.
It doesn’t come easily to Ghost either. She is fully aware that it’s childish for her to be upset with him when he refuses to dance with her, especially when she rarely sends a good word or thought his way, nevermind appreciates his visits. She is fully aware that she’s just as selfish as he, if not more so, in her self-imposed prison of extravagance and locked doors. The shards glittering on the floor remind her of that.
Even if Solace had left her people to be slaughtered, even if he had vanished without a trace, she had no right to be angry with him when she had hardly been around. Her birth had come long after his supposed betrayal; she had never known what it was like to live with his presence, and her people had lived in fear and spite, refusing to understand. Ghost suspects they had never known the entire story. The raw pain in Solace’s eyes is clue enough that he’d never truly meant to leave them. To leave her.
Ghost breathes in slowly, reminds herself of her purpose, and steps over her fury to snatch the next bottle within reach.
Perhaps Solace would dance with her tomorrow.
A/N: I hope you all enjoy this first draft! It's pretty short, and even the final will likely stay under the 10,000 word mark! Please feel free to leave a like and comment ♥
