Filha de Vaella Blackfyre e um de seus amantes, a menina cresceu com o pai. Mesmo que o marido de Vaella cuidasse de seus bastardos, esse amante preferiu ficar com sua prole, e eles tiveram até que uma vida humilde de vendedores, o pai adotou o nome dos bastardos, pois queria que todos soubessem que ela era filha de Vaella, e o que no começo pareceu um pai carinhoso, na realidade, era um plano bem ardiloso de que quando a menina estivesse com seus 12/13 anos pudesse vendê-la por um bom dinheiro como bastarda da princesa. O boato de que uma das bastardas de Vaella seria vendida chegou até Varian que em negociação com o pai “comprou” a tutela da menina. Sendo assim, Berena se tornou Lady Berena Dayne.
Tem bastante dificuldade ao andar pela corte por nunca ter sido uma dama, e seu tio aconselha que ela encontre uma boa Lady para poder ficar em companhia ou um bom marido nesse evento já que não vai poder proteger a inocência da menina para sempre.
Lady Berena Dayne (ex Waters) — 22 anos, Derya Pinar.
This was intended as a little teaser for Berena Appreciation Week, but, well, life happened. So here we are, three weeks late, but have a little snippet form my as yet untitled AU WIP based on Andy Weir’s The Martian. Huge thank you to @ddagent for lending her editing expertise and making this a million times better than it was!
Date night. Usually it was the highlight of the week, but this Tuesday the atmosphere was decidedly maudlin.
They’d both smiled and forced their way through the stilted dinner conversation, but there was an undeniable elephant in the room. Bernie was flying to Florida tomorrow and, if that wasn’t already far enough, she was then sauntering off to Mars as part of the Ares III mission a few days after that. She’d be gone almost two years.
Neither wanted to talk about it.
Instead, Bernie had fetched her overnight bag from the boot of her car and tucked it away in Serena’s bedroom; just as she’d done every Tuesday night for the last six months. They gave up on conversation in favour of sipping wine, squandering the evening; curling up in bed and wishing each other good night as if it was any other Tuesday. As if this wasn't the end of whatever this was.
The minutes slipped by.
Even with her eyes closed and the room plunged in darkness, Serena could tell that Bernie was still wide awake. The silence just seemed to magnify the awkwardness.
“You don’t need to pretend, you know. I can’t sleep either,” said Serena, her words slightly muffled by the duvet. Bernie tensed beside her.
Serena rolled onto her side and tilted her head up. She could just make out Bernie’s profile in the darkened room. She reached out and brushed her foot against Bernie’s, tentatively trying to bridge the void.
“We always knew it was going to end like this,” Serena whispered, pulling the duvet a little closer around her shoulder.
Bernie blinked hard, trying to keep her face unreadable. “It doesn’t have to.”
Serena smiled sadly, trailing a finger lightly down Bernie’s arm. “It’s going to be two years, Bernie. That’s longer than we’ve known each other.”
Bernie swallowed hard, reluctantly nodding her agreement.
“It’s just…” Bernie was lost for words as she turned her head to meet Serena’s dark eyes. She huffed out an embarrassed laugh.
Serena gently brushed wisps of blonde hair from Bernie’s face.
“What?” she whispered.
Bernie tucked her chin down to her chest and bit the inside of her cheek.
“I… I’m falling in love with you, Serena.”
Serena’s breath caught in her throat, the hand on Bernie's arm stilling its soothing circles. It was too much. Serena disentangled herself from Bernie and rolled onto her back. Her heart was pounding as she stared at the dark ceiling. This was more than she’d bargained for when she’d drunkenly stumbled into this arrangement all those months ago. She should have known better. Why had she ever let herself get tangled in a workplace romance? With Bernie Wolfe, of all people.
Beside her, Bernie started to fidget.
“I should go…” The mattress shifted as Bernie turned to get out of bed, cold air seeping its way beneath the warm sheets.
“No!” Serena caught hold of Bernie’s wrist in blind panic. She had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she didn’t want to give up these last precious hours with Bernie. “Stay... Please?”
Bernie hesitated before settling back down beneath the covers, her guard well and truly up. Serena licked her dry lips, agonising over what to say. How was she supposed to translate this muddle of feelings into words? The silence stretched out stark and awkward between them.
“I’m out of my depth here, Bernie.” Her voice was so quiet, she could barely hear herself speak. “You’re leaving the goddamned planet in a couple of days… and I can’t ask you not to go.”
“You don’t want me to go?” Bernie asked, stunned.
Serena shrugged, twisting the sheet between her fingers. This was a conversation they should have had long before now.
“I’d rather you weren’t going.”
Serena couldn’t bring herself to meet Bernie’s confused gaze. Bernie floundered for something to say.
“I’ll be coming back.”
Serena arched an eyebrow. “You know you can’t promise that any more than I can promise to bring you home safe.”
“I…” Bernie stuttered, her words fading into nothing.
Serena wondered what on earth she’d been about to say; what could possibly be said to make this situation any less painful.
At a loss for what to do, Serena curled into Bernie’s side; relaxing as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. She pressed a kiss to the warm, bare skin of Bernie’s shoulder; the thought of never having a chance to do so again making her blood run cold.
