Title: The Myth of Innocence
Author: Catalina Royce
Disclaimer: These stories are based on characters and situations created
and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books,
Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made
and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Rating: R
Life had never been easy for her. The redhead twirled a flower around in her hand, watching as the yellow petals spun together in a colorful wheel. In fact, she mused as she frowned, using her magic to slowly turn the flower black, she hadn't had it easy at all. Her family had been awfully judgmental of her, not understanding the delicate madness inside of her. And it was delicate. She was like this flower. Delicate. Fragile, like lace made out of spider webs.
The dreams were haunting her again. They were pounding through her brain, ignoring all her pleas for mercy, just as the madness inside ignored her family's pleas for reason. How could she know reason? She'd never known reason. Only magic, only the odd things that seemed to happen when she was upset. That was her only reason. The knowledge that she could kill, without meaning to. That was the only reason that she hadn't plunged into the Kingdom of Dreams long before now.
There was a crunching sound behind her – a boot hitting dry grass. The man crouched down beside her, staring at the flower. She let out a whisper of a sigh, unhappy that she – being of dirty muggle blood – would never know the honor of a wand to use her magic. Unhappy also, that these feelings of jealousy towards her beloved could only be repressed, not forgotten.
But it was the day of her wedding, and her beloved had come to find her. He was everything she wanted in life. He could interpret every whisper, every sigh. Every moan, laugh, grumble and whimper she let out, he could interpret. "You shouldn't be here." Her voice was quiet, in deference to the pain in her head that the dreams had caused.
He sensed instinctively what the reason was, and kept his voice quiet too. "Why not?"
She almost wept at the question. Every minute apart was death for her, and he was asking her to abandon her family's wishes yet again. She was no saint, just a woman with a love so great that only murder could destroy it. "Tradition." The excuse was exactly that. An excuse.
"Tradition? It is traditional to keep your virginity, and yet, you are tainted before marriage."
The headaches were rising again. A rush of heat flared up her cheeks, shamed that he
would even mention that. It was the reason her family had been so judgmental. It was
the reason for this marriage. And it was the reason for the headaches. She didn't know
how they were linked, but these headaches had started just after...that night. "By you."
"I know." Two simple words that melted the anger from his face. He knew what had happened. He understood her. Understood her like no one else on Earth. He was so gorgeous. So handsome. And he knew her better than she knew herself.
"Why?"
"It helped the pain. "
The man sighed. She'd been in one of her trances, obviously. She wouldn't have hurt herself otherwise. It was normal for her to have these. . .periods of lust, to want to hurt herself. He couldn't stop them; he could only support her when she fell. He alone knew the reasons for these headaches, and they were worrisome to say the least.
"Do you think," she began, "that I'll live to be one hundred?"
No. He didn't.
His reply was serious, his voice affectionate and determined. "I'll make sure your soul will live to be one thousand."
She smiled at him, unknowingly crushing the flower in her hand. "I know, Thom. You promised me."
"I keep my promises."
Author's Note: I did promise you a revised version of the Myth of Innocence. And I'm pleased to say that it's finally here. After much thinking, a lot of procrastinating, learning HTML, frustration at the plot and my ability to be sidetracked, I have reformatted, re-written, re-plotted, and it's finally here. Thank you to those who have stuck with me this long.Your loyalty means everything to me.
I don't really like Author's Notes, so I tend to keep them down to a minimum -- telling you about something involved in the story, usually. So just know now that your reviews are greatly appreciated, and something I couldn't live without.
Catalina Royce