The Seventh Day

Striding out of the room, my quiver of arrows full all except for one, I escape that house as fast as possible. My mind is racing as I try to process all that just happened, but now that my father is finally dead, or will be dead soon…I’m exhausted. I travelled all through last night and most of today, then confronted my father, and now the sun has long since set, the darkness billowing all around me. If I can just get to the horse…forcing my feet onwards, I make it to the gate, fumbling with the horse’s reins where I tied them to the gate. But I’m so tired, I don’t honestly know if I’ll be able to ride throughout the night, and then for half of tomorrow too…hell I can’t even make it up to the saddle…

“Temi! Thank the gods you’re alive,” strong arms wrap around my back, cradling me to a familiar chest, that lovely heartbeat a comforting drum. She’s here. How can the she be here?

“Oria? Is that you?” I whisper, my eyes already forcing themselves closed. The arms around me tense slightly before a kiss is pressed to my temple.

“Yes, my darling. I’m right here.”

I’m back here once again. I know it’s just a dream, a memory, but…it still hurts all the same. My mother’s grip on me is firm as I sob, unable to do anything other than listen to Oria’s screaming. She’s in so much pain and it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. She never would have died if I- “I let her escape with her life,” my father’s words echo in my mind.

She’s alive. He didn’t kill her.

She’s alive.

I might one day hear that laugh, feel those soft black curls, kiss that gorgeous smile. That laugh, this curls, that smile, which is so like the apothecary’s.

My eyes snap open.

I’ve been so stupid. This whole time, she was right in front of me, and I never, even for a moment, considered the possibility.

Sitting up abruptly, my eyes immediately land on the apothecary, where she lies next to me on the bed, like always. Only this time, she is just wearing that black tank top. I’ve never seen her sleeping before - she never, ever sleeps for longer than I. How did I even get back here? I remember killing my father, and then making it to the horse, and then the apothecary appeared, and then nothing. She must have brought me all the way back here, even whilst I was unconscious. She will be exhausted, I’m sure. I shouldn’t wake her, so the next best thing I can do is rest back next to her and wrap her up in my arms. Even in her sleep, she eagerly curls into me, her breathing relaxed and even. Where it has slipped, the tank top reveals more extensive scarring to her chest that I couldn’t see before. It hurts my heart even more, now that I know how and why she got those scars.

But it doesn’t matter right now. Right now, she needs to rest and I’m not going to ruin that for her. After sleeping for so long though, I can’t fall back asleep. That, and the fact that daylight is streaming in through the window, so the room isn’t exactly conducive to sleeping. Instead, I focus on what I know about the apothecary that lines up with the Oria from sixteen years ago. What I can’t seem to understand though, is why she didn’t just tell me who she is. Maybe because she hates me and blames me for what happened to her…which is reasonable, and I could understand that. Maybe this was all an elaborate plan to make me fall for her just so she could cause me pain, but…

She wouldn’t do that. Neither the Oria I knew or the apothecary I’ve spent the past week with. They’re both far, far too kind for that. At the start of this all, when she revealed that we’d met before, she said that she wanted me to remember by myself. Maybe…maybe she thought I could have forgotten about her? About Oria? I could never. I didn’t recognise her, didn’t let myself recognise her, but…I never forgot about her. I knew that the child Oria had many similarities to the apothecary, but, well. I thought Oria was dead. And it’s been sixteen years. How was I meant to recognise her after so long?

And yet, she recognised me.

The apothecary’s eyes flutter open and a smile immediately grows on her lips. “Temi. You’re here,” she whispers. Hiding my face in her shoulder as I hug her more tightly, I let out a shuddering sigh.

“I had a best friend, as a child. We spent every day together, for years. I fell in love with her - that sweet, pure kind of love that children experience. I wanted to spend my life with her,” I breathe out against her shoulder. “But my father is worse than evil, and he…I thought he killed her. After that, my mother took me and we left my father and my horrible sister. But I couldn’t forgive my mother for her complacency, and for stopping me from going to Oria. So I ran away, and swore that one day, I would kill my father and avenge Oria. But you already know all about Oria, don’t you?”

The apothecary pulls back from me, her eyes misty with tears. She presses a soft kiss to my lips, her hand trembling as she rests it on my neck. 

“Temi, I- I’m sorry, I should-“ I kiss her back, my hand gripping the hair at the base of her neck. 

“Never, ever apologise. I’m sorry, for- for letting that happen to you. For causing it in the first place,” I sob, feeling tears prick my eyes. Oria shakes her head quickly, her lip quivering. 

“But Temi, I am sorry. I never meant to play mind games with you, I just- I thought you’d forgotten about me,” her voice cracks as she wipes a stream of tears from her eyes.

“Forget you? I wouldn’t dare,” I laugh, cupping her cheek. She guides me into another sweet kiss, our lips salty with each other’s tears. “I have thought about you, every single day, for the past sixteen years,” I murmur, resting my forehead against hers. She takes a sharp breath, her hand still trembling against my neck.

“It wasn’t your fault, Artemisia. It was never your fault. When your sister told him that first time about us being friends, and he beat me…I knew what I was getting myself in for. Granted, I didn’t know how far he’d go, but…I knew he wasn’t going to let me go with a slap on the wrist if he caught us again. I knew and I decided you were worth it,” Oria’s hand moves from my neck to my cheek, but her whole body is trembling. This is hard for her. Really hard for her.

Gods, following me to my father’s estate must have been horrific for her. All those memories…

And yet, she followed after me anyway.

“I love you. I have always loved you, and I will love you even when we die and return to the stars,” I whisper, taking her hand on my cheek and threading our fingers together. She sobs in my arms, her face pressed into my shoulder, sixteen years worth of sadness finally leaving her soul.

“I love you too, Artemisia.”