HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ builotini | former royal family of jayni, massacred ten years ago and assumed dead

“amarisa remembered the day she had become the last of a great legacy. she remembered her mother choking on poison,        her father with a sword through his chest. the king and queen reduced to blood on a marble floor and four terrified daughters.

her older sisters pushing her behind them as though they could stop the onslaught, stop the approaching army and the torn down gates as their distant relatives stormed the throne room. the Builotini wolves in the surrounding forest had been howling in grief, sounding so akin to a human scream amarisa still heard it on the winds, like the echoes of mourning were being sent through the dark.

                 hollow eyes of a man desperate for power, which wins? dead old gods or raw desperation and a knife?

                   lifting her dead baby sister off of the steps, barking out a cry for help. she remembered realising nobody was coming.

amarisa knew the moment she became part grave. which is to say a place where the dead can reside.                amarisa knew the moment she became part god. which is to say vengeful and unending.”

HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ innocence | lack of guile or corruption; purity.

"You know, you’re still my sister,” Kier stood up from behind the desk and started towards her. “I think that owes me a little loyalty.”

Tess wanted to laugh in his face, wanted to see if any part of her was enough to leave his corpse in the room. She hadn't been his sister when he’d given her back to Eli like she was something borrowed, like nothing more than returning a slave to its master. He’d allowed her to be left on the street, bleeding to death for hours after Eli had decided he didn't want her back. 

HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ hollow | without real significance or value.

            “What did he call you?” Tess asked as her brother walked away from them, leaving her stood alone with Matthel.

            “Hollow,” Matt said with a sigh, rolling his shoulders back like he could smooth out the tension in either him or the room. “It’s an old slur.”

HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ divine | of or like God or a god.

“Gods help us,” Tess looked across the room at where Eli was talking animatedly with a small group of young women, Laini wondered how many gods she had prayed to when he’d seen if he could hurt her enough to make himself feel more like a man.

Amarisa barked a shallow laugh, “The gods are either dead or they no longer care. Whichever it is, I don’t imagine they'd be helping any time soon.”

“Your gods, maybe,” Laini stared her down, “Mine is alive and well. And I get the feeling she’d be okay with us getting some revenge.”

Tess grinned over the rim of her wineglass while Amarisa gave her a long look, and then her face broke into a smile. It was less a happy thing and more an opportunity to show teeth, “Oh, I think we’re going to get along.”

HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ elissa | a takahiro witch, hunting for something stolen from her

“so you’re her,” she looked laini up and down with a bored fascination, taking her time as she did so. “not quite what i was expecting.”

                          “and you are?” 

the woman, though smaller than laini, had her backed up against the wall in half a second, an ornate blade at her throat. this close, she smelt like blood and cold winds. laini simply raised one eyebrow in question, not entirely opposed to the position, “is this necessary?”

                      “don’t tempt me, tornell,” as if to prove her point she pushed the knife a little further. laini wasn’t afraid, if she wanted her dead she’d have done it by now. “i could have you screaming in seconds.”

their faces were barely a whisper away from each other, it was impossible for laini not to stare at the black eyes, windswept hair and the bloom high o the strangers cheeks. she told herself anyone would have noticed the curves of the woman's body if they were pressed this close together, and her eyes, betraying her, flitted down to her red lips.

she noticed the moment laini's eyes had dropped and an amused smirk bloomed, “although maybe you wouldn’t be opposed to that?”