Lilac (1) Sons of the Deveaux

Chapter one - Lillith.

Chapter One.

Lilith.

I can't breathe.

The air in my lungs feels cramped. The tightness in my chest won't ease. I feel like I'm going to die. My hands are sore from the white knuckled grip I have on my robe.

I can't do this. I can't do this. Don't make me do this.

With every step Lilly took, guided by her father across smooth marble floors, dread grew within her like vines, sprouting thorns and squeezing tightly around her heart.

For years, they had been hidden. Kept from the world and raised by a monster, locked away where nobody could come and save them. Not even their own mother had been safe.

The robes that she wore felt like they clung to her smaller frame, suffocating any air that tried to reach her. The one remaining wing she still had was strapped to her back to prevent any unsightly movement that would give away her inner turmoil in a flutter.

I don't want this. Please, somebody make this stop. Please.

Her lips trembled. Heavy tears ran down her cheeks, soaking into the fabric that hid away her face. Her father's hand gripped her arm even tighter, as if he could sense her overwhelming urge to turn tail and run like her life depended on it. Regardless of her inner turmoil, he led her further away from the safety of her sisters and towards somewhere unknown.

Someone unknown.

Though her inner panic overshadowed almost everything else in her head, Lilly could hear other voices the closer they came.

The soft voice was deceptively gentle, a male rumble she felt sink under her bones and had her spine turn a little straighter.

"Are the veils necessary?"

"Nobody wants an ugly bride." Another voice, low toned and amused slithered into the conversation followed by a slight snicker.

Lilly swallowed through a dry throat.

They wanted to remove it? She dragged in another hard won breath through her nose. It would ruin everything wouldn't it? Nobody would want a second look at her if they took it off.

Their father made his daughters out to be untouched creatures. Fairies of the rarest abilities, the strongest connections to Mother Nature herself.

Certainly not the broken little girl he was pushing forward right now towards an unknown future and unknown demons who would do as they pleased with her.

Marcus chuckled , the noise having Lilly take in an unsteady inhale again. "It's for their own safety of course. If anyone were to see their faces, they'd be targeted. And I couldn't have that happen to my precious daughters. They're the light of my life." How easily lying came to their father. It made her stomach churn thinking of what else he'd told these strangers. The promises he'd made to them.

"And yet here you are, handing one over so easily." The first man spoke again, his tone giving nothing away. No inflection of emotion, no interest or condemnation. Simply stating a fact they were all aware of.

Marcus Evergreen carried the term father from them, but reality was, the Fae cared amazingly little for anyone. Not his family and not the realm. Had this not been a tradition, he never would have married them off , probably opting for herself and sisters to be bred until their dying day. Popping out soldiers to add to his collection instead.

Incubators made to produce more of their own kind, made to aim, however unrealistically, to birth females and let the cycle continue.

This was nothing more than a transaction.