Run Off the World

She looked away and she didn’t look back as Ulric relayed all the information to Tamsyn where Deathbelle couldn’t. Her chest ached with the pain of it all and part of her wished to just feel numb. That wasn’t to be her fate. Every breath, ever step, every glance felt like shards of broken glass grating together where her heart should have been. She’d given it to Sirius, and he had destroyed it. Belle was no longer the wolf she once was, not anymore. She was forced into a life she no longer truly wanted to live. Everything hurt, happiness was an unachievable concept.

She heard Tamsyn agree to be her escort for the time being but she didn’t react, nothing really mattered anymore anyway. Then the woman was at her side, offering all the hospitality the Hallows had to offer but the once might Empress couldn’t express gratitude she knew she should feel but did not. She was led away, into the castle’s cold embrace beside Tamsyn. A bath sounded nice, one of the few bright moments she felt since being discarded. Food didn’t sound appetizing, but a warm bed and a long sleep would do her well. She still felt a morbid longing for the long sleep she would not awake from, but the support of this sweet woman would get her through the night and the morning when her senses were more clear.

If Tam thought she was going through the motions Deathbelle was doubly so. Like she was on some kind of automated movements her body followed after her of its own accord. She felt almost lost when the tour came to an end and Tamsyn spoke candidly, her apology reaching deaf ears, but the broken woman looked up all the same. ”It’s not your responsibility to apologize for him.” She returned softly, and it wasn’t. Tamsyn couldn’t have done anything. ”I should have known better.” She shouldn’t have ever been so foolish to try and give herself to him, it had always been too good to be true.