she avoids maleficent’s gaze, unable to meet her eyes lest she crack. aurora’s never lied to maleficent, and she doesn’t think she’s capable of it now, but she doesn’t want her to worry. she loves her mother as much as her mother loves her : and the thought gives her pause, because it’s still so new, calling her that. her mother. oh, she’d thought it. for far longer than she thinks maleficent is aware. but actually saying it, it meant the world to her. ❝ i - ❞ she starts, but she makes the mistake of looking up and she hesitates. visibly deflating, aurora shook her head. ❝ not yet. ❞ her voice is quiet, a soft whisper on her tongue as she wrings her hands together, fingers curling in on fingers and she hollows her cheeks. ❝ i tried, really mother i did, but i - i couldn’t. ❞ her breakfast hadn’t appealed to her, and she had declined lunch, the thought of food leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. philip, despite his concern, had understood. gathering her courage, aurora exhaled. ❝ i haven’t been sleeping very well. ❞ she confesses, and it’s a relief now that she has. it’s been weeks since the wedding, since ingrith and the faeries and ash in the wind - it was all aurora’s fault and she would wake in the middle of the night gasping for breath, a sob caught in her throat and philip at her side. she’d felt ill ever since, guilt and anger and fear sinking in her stomach like a stone in water.
——— CONCERNED MEME / @crimscnmalice !













