Promises of Glory

“The truth is always there.”

-A gospel teaching

The world blurred and collapsed in on itself, all in a moment. Rhode pried her eyes open, feeling the strain of sleep and the luring whisper of unconsciousness on the brink of her mind. She wanted to fall into it, to forget herself, to forget all the bad and the good that followed her around like extra baggage. But a voice pulled at her, coaxing her awake. And she obeyed because it sounded like her mother. And, oh, how she missed her mother. So she strained to keep her eyes open, against the lashing of everything inside her that told her to keep them shut.

“Good girl,” the voice cooed.

Rhode felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, the slickness of them on her cheeks made her want to wipe them away, but she found she couldn’t move her arms. “Mother?”

The voice laughed, deep and throaty. “Not quite.”

She blinked, rushing to get her head on straight. But the stars were cluttering up her mind and she could not think. She started to struggle, finding her movements were restrained. “What did you do?” She could finally see again and she saw the woman, the client, the lady that had a child to feed. “Who are you?”

“You’re quite talkative. I didn’t expect you to wake up so soon. Honestly, I’m surprised. I was hoping to spend some quality time looking at your sleeping face before all this happened.” She shrugged as if to say it was too bad. Rhode instantly remembered the night they met, the glare, the look that had sent shivers down her spine. A cold, calculating grace that only the immortal could achieve. This woman was a Fae.

Rhode inched back, “You wanted to watch me sleep?”

“Only because I love you, and in time you will see that. I love you, just like I loved your mother, just like I loved your uncle. Too bad they betrayed me. But I won’t hold it against you. You did nothing wrong.” The woman spoke softly, as if to settle the child.

Rhode flinched as her forehead was stroked. Her skin tingled at the touch, wanting more. It’d been so long since anyone touched her gently like this, it’d been so long since anyone seemed to care. But her mind was spinning, faster and faster. A way out? No. Restrained. Fight back? No. Outmatched. Play dead? No. Already awake.

“What are you thinking about my child? If it’s about how to escape, there’s easily many ways you could, but you wouldn’t get far. After all, we’re in the middle of Fae country.”

The Fae country? But that would take days to get there? How long had she been out? Certainly it hadn’t been that long.

The woman snickered, “I can see the confusion on your face. Yes, you’ve really been asleep that long.” She left the girl’s sight for a moment, reappearing while pulling up a chair. That’s when the girl noticed how exquisite the room was. The silk sheets of the bed beneath her, the vaulted ceiling, the large bay window. The woman reached over and brushed a hair from Rhode’s face. “I have something to tell you, but I don’t think you’ll like it very much.” The woman looked worried. Realizing the girl wasn’t going to respond, she went on, “My name is Alys, and I am your grandmother.”

“Strictly speaking, I’m your only family left.” The woman droned on. She’d said a lot in the last little bit, none that Rhode had actually caught. It seemed as if time was moving too slowly for her to comprehend. The woman -who was, as Rhode now knew, her grandmother- spoke softly to the girl, as if she were a fragile thing. She was right to. Rhode felt like she just might break.

“Wait.” The girl made a stopping signal with her hand, even if she could not lift it up off the bed. “I need you to hold up. This is too much information for my brain to process right now.” She did her best impression of a helpless girl. “Can you please release me? I promise I won’t try to escape.” The promise was falser than any other she had ever made before. Not that she cared though, she was a thief, her word didn’t count for much in the first place.

Alys pursed her lips, like she was considering it. Weighing all the possibilities. Rhode was sure that if you lived long enough you could train your mind to be faster. “I suppose you won’t go anywhere.”

She reached down and unlocked the shackles binding the girl. Rhode reached up and gave the woman a soft squeeze. “I’m so happy to have a family again.” Oh no, maybe that was a little too fast, a little too sappy, the girl thought. She tended to fret over the little things when big things like this happened.