“Will you be here come morning or is this a dream I’ll wake from wishing I had not?” Michéal asked, (Aisling was his drug, his dream that he never wanted to wake from).
“I’ll be right here with you when you wake up, I’ll be with you, always,” Aisling whispered with a smile filled with pride and joy.
Aisling was woken by the sun’s first light beaming in through the massive open balcony. She awoke more rested then she ever had with hope in her heart and a smile fixed on her face that she wore proudly; a smile she would not trade for anything. She remembered, everything, she remembered Michéal, she remembered Eiru, she remembered Noelle, Kian, Finn, Fionn, most of all, she remembered who she was; finally, her mind was at peace, she had returned home. For Marie, however, it was not as blissful. Her sleep was not as peaceful, with the morning sun, came a reality she cursed as a harsh and cruel bitch.
Chapter 7
Beast vs Beast
M
arie was the first to fall out of bed only to find newly laid clothes neatly sprawled across the bottom of her bed. They were clearly expensive and made with great care. She didn’t want to be rude and decline such kindness and would be happy to not wear a gown when she was trying to escape Eiru. The clothes would be what the Eiru locals considered casual wear yet to Marie’s eyes, they were elegant. With white bra and panties, a black corset to be worn over a white blouse with memory-foam plated blue silk leggings complemented with thigh high black boots. She quietly checked to see if her room door was closed then she turned the lock on the handle and raced to grab her new clothes and stood in front of the full-length mirror to try them on. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl as she stood in front of the mirror wearing her new outfit and she felt like a pirate or an adventurer from an old book; a good book you couldn’t put down in her new clothes. The clothes seemed slightly heavy once they were on her, but she chalked it down to the fabric or the way they were made; little did she know, the clothes she wore were partly armoured, not enough to stop a beast from shredding her apart but enough to take the impact of a bullet or brunt impact of a melee weapon. As she stood before the mirror, she could see the clothes she wore appeared to be tailor made just for her. They were a perfect fit and very comfortable, but how did anyone know her measurements? She thought about it briefly but was so happy to be in fresh clean clothes and one step closer to returning home that she decided not to dwell on it for too long.
Aisling woke feeling reborn, she too found she had clean fresh clothes laid out at the end of her bed. Aisling found white and green lace bra and panties, a white quarter length jacket, a deep purple blouse, black satin leggings with a white belt that fastened with a large steal crested buckle. Her outfit was finished off with black leather ankle high boots. They too seemed slightly heavy once worn and felt to be tailor made just for her; the fitting hugged her curves perfectly while the colour contrast made her truly beautiful eyes twinkle in the sunlight.
Neither Marie nor Aisling wouldn’t have long to wait before Noelle’s servants were swarming over them as they did the night before, styling their hair and expertly applying light makeup to perfection before escorting them both from their sleeping chambers to the main hall. Noelle greeted them both at the main hall.
“It seems my brother has already taken his leave. Allow me to escort you to the emerald bay where you can gain passage back to your homelands,” Noelle exclaimed with mixed emotions.
Noelle’s appearance suggested she was ready for battle as she wore lightly armoured battle regalia that was familiar. It was like something from a television show out of the 1990s about a warrior princess that Marie was a big fan of, but Noelle was holding no weaponry.
“Are you expecting trouble?” Aisling asked, raising her eyebrows to Noelle’s medieval age attire.
“Once you are safely on your way, it is my intent to join my brother in finding that traitor,” Noelle replied, clicking her fingers to order that the drawbridge be lowered, it lowered with a thud as it struck the ground.
“Here are your weapons,” Noelle joked.
“What about mé Croí?” Aisling asked, looking to Noelle with a playful grin.
Noelle stared at Aisling with wide overjoyed eyes. She couldn’t help herself, she did a little dance and jumped around before hugging Aisling, bouncing and jumping around some more.
“Mé Croí?” asked Marie, looking from Aisling to Noelle, confused.
“It’s Irish, it means ‘my heart’. It’s what she always called
