#author rec: birgittesilverbae

[princington]

Shannon lowers her staff, her face growing still, dark, a thundercloud sweeping in over the horizon. Her breath comes fast and harried. Her hair is falling out of its braid as she crowds forwards towards Beatrice. Her hand lands on the back of Beatrice's neck, nails biting into her flesh as she leans over to kiss Beatrice's forehead. "You need to wake up, Beatrice." Her voice grows urgent, unbridled fear in every syllable. "You need to wake up now. Bea, wake up."

nature, red in tooth and claw ch 2 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

all I can see are the fingerprints she left behind

inspired by teach me to love chapter 5 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

Shannon hiccups through a laugh, her hand rising to brush Beatrice's cheek. "Look at you," she mumbles, a fondness in her gaze that makes Beatrice want to crumple... "All grown up. So proud of you, Bea."

teach me to love ch 4 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

"Look at you," she mumbles, a fondness in her gaze that makes Beatrice want to crumple. She can just barely make the words out over the sound of her heartbeat screaming in her ears. "All grown up. So proud of you, Bea."

teach me to love ch 4 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

...she sits perpendicular on bea's bed and lets bea lay her head in her lap, curl her hands in her shirt, press her face against shannon's stomach when her body aches are particularly bad

[princington]

"That strike was meant for a head," she muses, "but it wasn't meant for my head."

Beatrice twists her feet against the ground, settles her shoulders back, assumes a resting posture. "No," she confirms, because it's the truth, because since leaving Rome she hasn't been able to lie to Ava about anything, because she'd reached up to grab a hand and it hadn't been Ava reaching back, "it wasn't."

teach me to love chapter 5 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

"Please do," Shannon says softly. Her hand makes its way up Beatrice's spine, lands cupping the back of her head. She presses a kiss to Beatrice's forehead, then pulls back just slightly, her lips brushing Beatrice's skin as she whispers, "I couldn't bear to have anything happen to you."

teach me to love, as you have loved me ch 4 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

"Just match my breathing. In and out, in and out."

teach me to love ch 1 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

Beatrice sits in the glow of that, of being seen, of being considered, for a long moment before digging a spoon in to take a serving.

teach me to love, as you have loved me ch 2 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

teach me to love, as you have loved me chapter 1

[princington]

"Well done, Beatrice."

teach me to love ch 1 by @birgittesilverbae

[princington]

You think that's what Beatrice needs, either? ... You are the one person she can look to and find herself in. Not me, not Lilith, you.