Secondhand Sorrows [GxG]

- Before || Movalissa & Parlahk -

The tiny sliver of a window hardly allowed starlight to reach the place where Parlahk lay beaten and chained. Not that light would do him any good. How could he see, with the way his own blood dripped into his eyes and burned? What was worth seeing in the frigid, damp cell the Noxian war women had left him in to rot?

He strained against his bindings to no avail. His body trembled with hunger and fatigue. His fire was lost to him— it burned low as embers in his veins. The most he could summon was a tiny flicker to his fingertips, gone as soon as it came. While ideally he would take trueform and break from his prison as a massive creature of wing and fang, the heavy silver collar around his neck ensured that such an action would result in his immediate decapitation.

He was trapped. He was dying. And worse, she hadn't come to see him for weeks.

Their meeting had been a wonder. During the first month of Parlahk's imprisonment, the scattering of meals his captors had deigned to provide him were delivered by cold, disinterested servants who seemed almost as worn and hungry as he was.

Then, she came. Gentle. Soft. She asked his name, and told him hers: Movalissa. She talked with him— about his home, his family, his dreams. She'd sneak him extra food, sweets unlike any he'd tasted, and ointment to numb the places where his shackles had gouged his skin raw. She'd sing to him, soft and soothing, in his language and her own. And in no time at all, Parlahk fell in love.

For weeks, Movalissa ensured she was the one to bring his meals, and for that brief time his captivity became nearly pleasant. But just as quickly, the respite ended and once again his scant meals came to him by way of unfeeling servants.

He worried for her safety and, more selfishly, he missed the comfort she provided. His heart yearned for her as his body yearned for freedom. But no matter how he called her name into the cold, Movalissa didn't come. No matter how he prayed to his peoples' god, Movalissa didn't come. Once, desperate and sleep deprived, Parlahk even tried praying to the memory of her— to the shining goddess he'd made her into in his mind. Still, Movalissa didn't come.

He'd begun to give up hope. Perhaps she'd been caught and punished for showing such sympathies to a non-Noxian, a prisoner. Or perhaps... perhaps she'd simply lost interest in him.

When the keys to his cell jingled and the door swung open on its rusty hinges, Parlahk didn't bother looking up. It wasn't until her soft footsteps padded toward him across the stone floor, bringing along the sweet floral scent that inexplicably clung to her skin, that he realized his prayers were answered. He jolted upright, her name a joyous hymn on his lips.

"Shh, do not strain yourself," she murmured in Ignean, dropping to her knees beside him— close enough that he could caress the silk tresses of her hair despite his chains. She leaned into his touch and wiped the blood from his eyes with delicate fingers.

"You're here." His voice was coarse as the sands of his homeland. He blinked until his vision cleared enough for him to make out the shape of her. Even in the dark she was luminescent, her pale skin and silver hair shimmered like starlight made earthly. "You came back. You're here."

"Forgive me, I returned as swiftly as I could. The wardens were beginning to grow suspicious and I couldn't— I couldn't risk..."

Parlahk shook his head. "It doesn't matter, you're here now."

"I am," she agreed, and the softness in her voice hardened into something crystalline and resolute. "Will you escape with me?"

"Escape?"

She lifted the key in her hand until it caught the sliver of light through the window and gleamed. "Will you take me away from here?"

Parlahk's breath caught. The fire in his veins, so weak before, grew hotter with newfound determination. "Anywhere."

Movalissa brushed her lips against his in the whisper of a kiss, and with a twist of the key his shackles fell away. He growled in relief and pulled her into his arms, deepening the kiss. He felt her smile against his mouth. When finally they broke apart, Parlahk repeated, "Anywhere. Wherever you want to go, we will go."

Movalissa pressed her forehead to his. "Take me to the stars."

A glass cylinder, where we can linger.

Let me take us to the stars.

I won't be missing, your tender kissing

'Cause the light will wipe out all our scars. 

______

Hello! Thank you so much for reading this first chapter of Secondhand Sorrows! Since this is at its heart a reincarnation story, we will have a few chapters like this interspersed throughout the main story. So while the majority of the book follows their current lives, Grey and Jodah, we'll take a few peeks back into the lives that came before. This first story, Movalissa and Parlahk, is their very first lifetime. ❤️

I hope you enjoyed. Please feel free to comment, I love talking to readers!