Eoghan and Shanane's lips parted slowly, the warmth of the kiss lingering between them in the soft silence that followed. Shanane didn't move at first. Her forehead rested lightly against Eoghan's chest, her eyes closed, her breath still catching in her throat.
For a few brief seconds, there was nothing else: no weight pressing on her, no shadows watching from unseen corners. Just the quiet rhythm of his heartbeat, steady and real beneath her cheek. It had been so long since anyone had touched her like this, without fear, without expectation. Only comfort. Only care.
__Eoghan: "You don't have to say anything."
His voice was barely above a whisper, spoken into the space just above her ear.
She nodded slightly, still pressed against him, not trusting her voice. The tears had stopped, but the ache inside her hadn't. The kiss had offered her a moment of stillness, but the storm hadn't passed it had only paused. And the mark on her wrist was still there.
Reality crept back in like a cold draft under the door. The memory of that burning grip, the voice whispering to her in her sleep, the way her skin had throbbed with pain long after the dream had ended, none of it had disappeared.
She slowly stepped back from the huntsman, her eyes no longer wet, but shadowed with the burden she had tried to keep hidden.
He watched her carefully, his gaze searching her face.
__Eoghan: "You're still afraid."
It wasn't a question. She swallowed hard and looked away, her fingers curling at her sides.
__Shanane: "I'm just tired."
It wasn't the truth. Not entirely. But it was all she could offer.
The blonde man's gaze dropped briefly to her hands, and she tucked them behind her back before he could see the mark. The last thing she wanted was to explain what had touched her in the night. What had left its imprint burned into her flesh.
Because to speak it aloud, to give it words would be to make it real in his world too. And she wasn't ready for that. Not yet.
__Eoghan: "You can stay here as long as you need. No one will come here. No one will bother you."
She nodded again, but her chest tightened. Because something had already come for her. And it would come again.
She looked at him, wanting to say something more. To thank him. To explain. To ask for help she didn't know how to name.
But instead, she offered him the smallest of smiles: fragile, uncertain. The kind you wear when everything is broken, but you're still trying to be brave.
__Shanane: "I should try to sleep again."
Eoghan studied her a moment longer before nodding.
__Eoghan: "If you need anything, I'm just down the hall."
She gave him a quiet "good night" and turned away, her footsteps slow and silent as she returned to the small guest room.
The moment the door clicked shut behind her, the mask cracked. She exhaled sharply, her back pressed to the door. Her hand lifted, slowly, reluctantly, and pulled up the sleeve of her coat.
The mark was still there. Darker now. The skin around it red and warm to the touch. She stared at it, her breath catching in her throat. The shape of it was unmistakable, too exact, too cruel to be imagined. The fingers had been long. Inhuman. And they had held her.
A shudder ran through her as she lowered her sleeve again.
She had no idea how long she could keep this secret. How long she could protect Eoghan from the truth that already clawed its way into her life.
But tonight… she needed to pretend just a little longer. Pretending that she was safe. That she wasn't marked.
That something ancient hadn't already decided she belonged to it.
________________________________________
∆ ☆ ATHERAMOND ☆ ∆
________________________________________
The morning came slowly.
The first light pressed gently against the curtains, soft and pale, bleeding into the corners of the room like a cautious visitor. For a long time, Shanane didn't move. She lay on her side, the covers drawn up to her shoulders, staring blankly at the wall.
Sleep had come in pieces, fragments broken by the sting in her wrist and the weight of everything she hadn't said. But for the first time in days, she had made it through the night without screaming awake. Without creatures in the corners of her vision. Without the suffocating press of shadows over her chest.
But that didn't mean she had peace.
Her body ached with exhaustion, but her mind was wide awake, drifting, analyzing, remembering. The warmth of Eoghan's arms. His quiet strength. The moment they had shared that still sat in her chest like something fragile she didn't dare name. And the kiss…
It hadn't felt like comfort or escape. It had felt real. That scared her more than the nightmares.
Eventually, the smell of something warm drifted through the hallway: bread, maybe, or eggs. Her stomach, long neglected, gave a low, hollow protest. She slipped from the bed slowly, every movement stiff, as if her body still carried the memory of what had happened in the dream.
She hesitated before leaving the room, glancing once at her wrist. Still red. Still tender. Still there. But she pulled her sleeve down and covered it. She couldn't let it define her. Not today.
She stepped into the main room, blinking at the brightness that filled it. The curtains had been drawn open, letting in the morning sun, which painted the wood floor in long, golden streaks. The fire in the hearth had been rekindled, its soft crackle filling the silence.
Eoghan was in the kitchen, standing at the stove, his sleeves rolled up, brow slightly furrowed as he moved with the calm precision of someone used to silence and solitude.
He looked over his shoulder when he heard her. He smiled, not a big one, not showy. Just a small, warm flicker that felt real.
__Eoghan: "Morning."
__Shanane: "Morning. she offered a faint smile back
He gestured toward the table where two plates had already been set.
__Eoghan: "I figured you'd be hungry. Sit. I didn't burn anything yet."
She let out a quiet breath. Not quite a laugh, but something close. She moved to the table and lowered herself into the chair, fingers still slightly trembling as they wrapped around the warm ceramic of the mug he handed her.
__Shanane: "Thank you… for everything. For last night."
His green eyes glanced at her from the corner of his eye as he brought the pan to the table and began serving.
__Eoghan: "You don't owe me thanks. I'm just glad you came."
She looked down at the steam rising from her food, then up at him again, her expression thoughtful.
__Shanane: "I wasn't sure I would. But I… I couldn't stay there. Not after..."
She paused, choosing her words.
__Shanane: "Not after remembering things I didn't want to remember."
He didn't press. He just nodded slowly, sitting down across from her.
__Eoghan: "Sometimes remembering is part of surviving. Even if it hurts."
She ate slowly, grateful for the warmth. For the simplicity of the moment. But under it all, the mark still burned quietly, a reminder that the worst wasn't behind her.
She wasn't safe. But she wasn't alone either.
And maybe that was the first step toward facing whatever came next.
________________________________________
∆ ☆ ATHERAMOND ☆ ∆
________________________________________
They ate in silence for a while, the quiet between them no longer tense, but thoughtful. Outside, the morning light grew stronger, casting long shafts of sunlight through the trees beyond the window. It should have felt peaceful. It almost did.
But not to Shanane.
She poked at the food on her plate, her appetite fading as the warmth of the moment began to give way to the unease she could never quite shake. Her thoughts drifted back to the shadow in the night, to the searing pain in her wrist, to the mark she hadn't shown him.
She wanted to keep it locked inside. To pretend she could carry it alone. But her voice broke the silence before she could stop it.
__Shanane: "I've been having dreams. Since I got back here."
Eoghan looked up from his plate, his fork still in hand. He didn't interrupt. He just waited.
She kept her gaze on her cup. It was easier not to look at him.
__Shanane: "They're not like normal dreams. Not like the ones you forget when you wake up."
She swallowed hard, choosing her words carefully.
__Shanane: "They're… heavy. The kind that follow you even after you're awake. Sometimes I don't even realize I've fallen asleep. It just… happens. And then I'm somewhere else."
She hesitated, unsure how far to go. But part of her needed to speak. To give shape to the weight that had been pressing on her chest for days.
__Shanane: "Usually, I'm in the forest. It's always night. The sky is black and the trees stretch on forever. And I'm running. From something I can't see. But it's close. I can feel it, breathing behind me, following like it knows every step I'm about to take."
Eoghan leaned back slightly in his chair, watching her with quiet intensity. He didn't look skeptical. Just… attentive. Grounded.
__Shanane: "Other times it's worse. I'm not running anymore. I'm stuck. Like something is holding me down. I try to scream but nothing comes out. Like the nightmare wants me silent."
She finally looked up at him, her eyes dark with exhaustion.
__Shanane: "I wake up shaking. Sometimes sweating. Sometimes with this… ache, like I've been hurt. But there's nothing there. No wounds. Just the feeling."
She didn't mention the mark. Or the voice. Or how real it all was. She couldn't. Not yet.
But she needed him to know a little. To understand that something had followed her into the night.
__Shanane: "I thought they were just bad dreams at first. The grief, the stress. But they've been getting worse. And I don't know what they mean, but they feel… wrong."
The last word lingered in the air, heavier than the rest.
Eoghan set down his fork slowly, leaning forward on the table. His expression hadn't changed, but his voice was even quieter now, laced with something she couldn't name: concern, maybe, or quiet recognition.
__Eoghan: "And you've had these dreams every night since coming back?"
She nodded.
__Shanane: "Not a single night without them."
He was quiet for a long moment, his gaze steady on hers. He didn't tell her she was imagining things. He didn't offer easy explanations. And that, more than anything, made her feel heard.
__Eoghan: "You're not crazy, Shanane. Whatever's happening… it's not nothing.
Her breath caught slightly, her shoulders trembling just once before she steadied herself.
__Shanane: "I just… needed someone to hear it. Even if it sounds like nothing more than nightmares."
Eoghan shook his head gently.
__Eoghan: "It doesn't sound like nothing."
There was no judgment in his eyes. No fear. Just something solid. Something real. And in that moment, it was enough.
He didn't look away from her. His eyes stayed steady, thoughtful, watching the subtle tremble in her hands, the flicker of fear she still hadn't learned to hide. The silence that stretched between them was gentle, not heavy, like he was carefully choosing his next words.
Then he spoke, his voice quiet and even.
__Eoghan: "Have you… thought about talking to someone? A therapist, maybe."
She blinked, surprised.
__Eoghan: "I know the village isn't exactly welcoming, and there's no one here I'd trust with anything beyond a sprained ankle. But in the city where you're from, there might be someone who could help. Even just to listen."
He paused for a second, watching her expression.
__Eoghan: "I'm not saying it's all in your head. I don't think that. But maybe it could help to talk about it with someone who's trained to handle… things like this."
She looked down at her tea, her fingers tightening around the mug.
__Shanane: "I thought about it. But part of me is afraid of what I'd say. Afraid that if I really tried to explain it, they'd think I was losing my mind."
The huntsman leaned forward slightly, his arms resting on the table, voice firmer now but still gentle.
__Eoghan: "You're not losing your mind. You've been through something traumatic. You're grieving, you're isolated, and you're back in a place full of memories that feel heavier than they should. No one could walk through that untouched."
Shanane looked up at him, and there was something raw in her eyes. Not doubt but the desperate need to believe someone, anyone, could still see her clearly through the mess.
__Eoghan: "I meant what I said, Shanane. You're not alone. You don't have to go through this alone."
He hesitated, his gaze never leaving hers.
__Eoghan: "If you ever feel like talking about any of it, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
Her breath hitched softly, the words sinking into her chest like warmth after a long freeze.
She looked at him for a long time, searching his face, weighing whether she could trust that steadiness in him. And slowly, she nodded.
__Shanane: "Thank you."