"And how is my little flower blooming? Brightly, I hope."
Little flower.
I've had a rather confusing day that I can't wrap my head around, my anger is at about ten thousand, I'm on the edge of a mental breakdown, my senses are overwhelming the crap out of me, and all of it thanks to him. This fucking asshole who took it all and ruined my Godsdamned life.
I was happy, and I was content. Now look at me.
I'm a Queen and an elemental, and I'm definitely not a happy one. His eyes may be red, but mine are flaming with the madness he forged in me. His closeness has spiders crawling up my arms, but I won't let the fear control me. I'm not his to control. He has no hold on me, but I sure as hell will have him wishing he never let me go by the end of the night.
All I want to do is reach out and yank his dark heart from his chest and watch his eyes go wide with surprise, but I cant risk more than a breath toward him with so many people - expendable in his eyes - nearby. I do picture doing it though as I lean in closer towards him until I can feel the coldness of his breath on my cheek.
"Your flower is wilting," I whisper, staring strident into the same blood red eyes that used to swallow me whole and shove me into pain and darkness. "Now remove your dog before I have mine tear off her head and use it as a chew toy."
That menacing look in his eye dances at my words, yet he doesn't take me seriously. His mistake.
Not breaking eye contact, I take hold of Visha's body and yank her away from the Queen of Adaeric whom she had her nails dug into. Her throat lands in my hand, and I squeeze it so tight my forearm cries in pain, my anger get taken out on her windpipe. A strangled noise gasps from her, and his eyes betray him as he reacts all too quickly towards it. She tries to grab my own throat, so I shock her muscles and have them cramping. Her whole arm shakes with the effort to reach me, and a vein in his forehead begins to pop out.
"She may have her soul locked in a stone," I tell him. "But that just means I get to tear her body apart again and again, right in front of you, just like you did when you killed my mother, and just like you tore my mind from me. Now let the King and Queen go, or your sweet little girl will find herself trying to heal her own broken neck."
He doesn't seem to hear me, too focused on staring into my eyes and likely imagining my demise. Too bad he can't carry it out with my hand on Visha's neck and Darius monitoring his every breath.
A few of his guards suddenly drop to the floor, unmoving. People yelp in surprise, but they needn't worry. They're only dead.
When he still doesn't rid of the black collars I start dropping them one by one all along the walls, and slower than the last, taking the water from their bodies until they're shriveled and dry. Out in the hallways, more of them fall, though their hearts didn't stop from my doing. They fall to their knees and clutch their throats trying to get the air to rush back into their lungs, but it never does.
I know that he can feel each other their deaths, and though they may just be naive mortals and their lives nothing but a thing he cares little for, he did have a purpose for them, and now he doesn't have them at all.
I tilt my head, waiting for those black collars to disappear. They don't, so I turn Visha around slowly, my hand still on her neck as I pull her back to my chest and rest my chin on her shoulder. I can feel her body shaking with rage. That and the cramps I'm setting in every muscle that tries to throw me off rattles her.
She looks so compliant, and he looks like he's still not understanding the words that came out of my mouth. Without warning, I jerk her head to the side and snap her neck. The slightest flinch to the thud of her body as it hits the floor twitches in his neck. If I hadn't been looking for it, I wouldn't have found it.
"The collars. Now. Or I'll go get that other girl of yours and snap her neck too only after making you listen to her scream as Darius melts that soul of hers, and the one now useless on the floor."
He stares down at Visha, and as much as he tries to hide it, I can see him putting all of his efforts into hiding those small emotions of his. Who knew a child of darkness could care for something so ineffective?
Just as I begin to lose my patience and Darius his, the collars disappear from their necks. I hold out a hand to the Queen, still not taking my eyes off of him. I want to remember this moment. The moment when he regrets his decision in thinking that I would be an easy break. The moment where he realized that he had a better chance of fighting the girl I used to be, and now he stands there, uncertain about the woman standing before him now.
"You made me," I whisper, still at his ear. "Remember that the next time you try to step on my neck."
The Queen stands from her throne and happily leaves it to rush over and take my hand. I gently put her behind my shoulder and let her clutch to my hand as hard as she wishes. The woman has been through enough. It's time she gets some rest.
I finally take my eyes off of him, only doing so to make sure Darius has the King.
"You think you've wounded me," Xaxias whispers back. "But you haven't." His voice sends shivers up my spine, bringing all too many flashes of the dark cell and the pain with them, but I step on them until they're gone.
"Not yet," I correct.
The woman still clutching my hand starts shaking uncontrollably, so I turn and put my armored arm around her and guide her down the steps. I give Víđarr a nod, and he stands from where he stayed posted near the dais and trots to Alister's side while Kit goes to Mal's.
"Thank you," the Adaerian Queen cries. "Thank you. Thank you."
I don't respond, scared that something might come up that's not comforting with my anger still boiling over. So I just keep my arm around her and lead us back towards where my brother waits back at the entrance of the room, though I don't look at them but the wall at their backs. The Bhaltayr and Ginerva fall in behind us as we do, allowing the crowd to take up the dance floor again. No one does, and the musicians slowly try to find their next song.
When we reach the other steps I let the Queen go so that she and her King may embrace. They switch into their own language, and I tune it out so that I can't hear what they say. I understand them completely, but it's not my place to impose on something personal. I turn away from them and look around the room again. People move slowly, their eyes switching to stare at us and Xaxias. They're waiting for the fight to break out. That, or they don't want to go anywhere near the dead bodies of the demons still lathering the floor.
Our bad.
The whispers of water and earth still whisper along my hands, making it easy to call on one of each and have the blood be washed away by water and drained out through the windows. People leap out of the small black and blue rivers, and then they jump to avoid the flames that ignite on the bodily remains.
I flinch at one I hadn't realized was so close, and quickly close my eyes and count to ten.
It's just fire. Nice fire. It won't hurt you, and he can't touch you. Everything's okay.
I open my eyes and repeat it, steadying myself with a few deep breaths and kicking out the thoughts that could drown me entirely.
A breeze enters the room, pulling the smell and smoke from the burning bodies out of the room and away from everyone's noses. I know that Darius does it to help, but the feeling of it slipping beneath my skirt and the thin lace of the dress's sleeve...Saints I don't want it to feel comforting, but it does. It calms me ten times more than the counting Rina told me to do.
Even with the length of the black gown fading to white, and the scaled armor covering my entire right arm, shoulder, and snaking across my rib cage to the plate at my left hip, I feel as if that breeze slips beneath all of it.
And he doesn't have a clue as to what it does, what it cost me. No one here knows.
The voices slowly fade away, leaving the floor once again clean and the air clear of any sign of the ashes now scattered elsewhere. The breeze disappears too, leaving me to start counting again and wait for the music to start up. It takes a few moments, but the musicians in the corner finally all land on the same pages of their sheet music and start playing.
Still, no one dances, so I wave at hand at the Ginerva and they all walk towards the Kings and Queens of Ker. They won't leave their sides for the rest of the night, sticking close to mist them all out should Xaxias decide to try anything, but I do catch Nilsa's slight shake of her head to Darius. I let it go and look back up to find Xaxias taking notice of their magicless movement before he catches my eye. I smirk at him, knowing full and well that he's got something else up his sleeve.
It's a good thing I have one too, and he's not going to like it.
Xaxias doesn't move from where he stands, Visha's body still lying at his feet. He just folds his hands behind him and straightens back up. He's not yielding, but the posture is more relaxed. He won't make his next move just yet, but it will come.
After long moments the dance floor once again fills. Their faces aren't as happy as they were before, now tainted with the memory of the blood and bodies we wiped away. It pulls on my heartstrings to see them move so gracefully yet not enjoy a single step. The song is quick and meant to be a light one that has the men lifting the women in the air and spinning them endlessly around the floor. Instead, everyone's feet stay on the floor and the spinning is tight and held close.
Part of me wants to go dance, to reign free right smack in the middle of all the layers of the people there. The music speaks to me as the voices of my power do. It beck and calls and begs for me to close my eyes and succumb to its rhythm. For a moment, I do. I close my eyes against Xaxias's stare and lift my chin to the notes drifting above. I breathe in their measures and the staccato notes the violinists, flutists, and drummers float through easily.
My body doesn't move, but my soul sure does. Until I notice the steps approaching me, and I open them once more to find our allies making their way towards us. Darius comes to my side, making my head spin faster than the fingers of the guitarist as he takes the first solo of the song. One deep breath and more counting settle the thoughts enough for me to muster up a polite smile.
They Bhaltayr have staggered themselves along the steps, as well as behind them. I shouldn't feel trapped, but I do. It's suffocating. But they're friends. They're friends, and they care. That's why they're there. To protect me and protect their King. It's their job.
With another deep breath that catches Darius's attention, I let the mask slip entirely over my face.
The King and Queen of Kietha arrive first, lowering their heads in greeting from a step below. I suppose we claimed a dais of our own on the steps of the entrance. Unintentionally, of course. I meant what I said. I have no interest in becoming Empress.
Darius and I lower our heads in turn.
"That was quite an entrance you made," King Markus remarks, not looking as if he disapproved of it at all.
"We're sorry to have made it such a late one," Darius apologizes.
Gilt hits me like a shard of glass in my neck. We were late because of me.
"I'm assuming it's a one-time occurrence?"
I step in, feeling the need to reassure everyone that I'm perfectly fine. Even if it is a lie. "You'd be surprised at how punctual we actually are. If anything, we're always over-prepared than under."
"You did arrive at the meeting this afternoon at the exact time you requested," Queen Celestina supports. "The rest of us were early and eager to see who would join and who would not."
"Indeed, we were surprised to see everyone in attendance," King Zalimir of Melinoe impedes gently. Surprising, considering he and his wife, Reyna, are known for quick responses that nearly always involve a fight of a sort. "Especially Kristos." He says the name with obvious disdain. Reyna doesn't bother to hide her hate for their northern foes.
"And we were surprised that you agreed to join," the steely Queen of Slyvaine joins. Her husband walks with her, arms looped, yet she somehow seems to stand taller and him slightly hunched. It seems His Highness is still in the sandbox for trying to silence his clearly preferred wife.
"My husband has a troublesome fascination for your highly reputed navy." Zalimir lifts his chin proudly at his wife's words. Her eyes roll at the movement, but I don't miss the lift of her lip.
"I appreciate your fascination, and we're happy to combine our navy with yours in our fight against...that." She casts a glance over to Xaxias, not at all looking concerned about him, just making the gesture.
I fill with satisfaction at Xaxias's jaw twitching. Of course, he's listening to us.
"I don't believe we've met." The attention of our small circle turns to the Linnaean King who addresses the Andrastrian one beside him.
"This is King Ascian Basilius of Andraste," Darius introduces. "The kingdom of the northern continent."
Eyes widen at the handsome, broad-shouldered, foreign King. No doubt out of surprise that there was a kingdom on the northern continent they no doubt sent spies that never returned. I take a mental note to question Branka about the King when I see her next if only to ask her if she jumped the King's bones.
He has no Queen, no wedding band or sign of a woman - or man - who stands beside him on his throne. His sister didn't mention one either, and I assume she would've in her earlier nonstop talk about hers and her brother's life.
Or maybe Branka jumped into the woman's lap instead...
Either way, the Andrastrian King is quite a beautiful man to look at. One that had several heads turned toward him in sexual yearnings as he headed for us. They're all still gazing with strong lust toward him. If he doesn't have a wife, then he's about to get a shitload of proposals tonight.
"We weren't aware there was a thirteenth kingdom," King Wintri says. He and his wife stand over mine and Darius's shoulders, holding tightly to each other's hands as if any second they'll be ripped apart from each other again. It has my temper rising, my power along with it.
A sliver of wind strokes against my cheek, drawing my eyes up to Darius's. A soft warning lays in them, and I fight against those screaming thoughts again. The touch doesn't leave, and despite what my mind says my heart pulls it closer, smothering the anger and quieting the voices of earth.
Ascian's voice pulls us both back into the conversation at hand, as he says, "The Blight allows nothing and no one to return from which they came once they've entered it."
"The Blight?" Queen Sely questions.
"The forest which lines the border of the continent, separating my kingdom from the rest of the world."
"We refer to it as Mortala's Garden of Lost Souls," Darius explains.
The Melinoe Queen's eyes light up with an idea I'm not sure I like. "So you bear magic as well, then?"
Ascian shakes his head, loosening a few strands of pearl hair from its partially pulled back style. "No. The forest is of its own making and rule, separate from me and my people."
"So you have no magic then? I simply ask out of curiosity, as we seem to live in a world where magic still exists despite its lengthened absence and presumed extinction," Queen Sely adds quickly.
I take the small hidden jab, not that anyone ever stated at any point in time that anything and everything magical was extinct. It was simply forced to hide against the rising numbers of mortals.
"My people and I bear no magical abilities of any kind," Ascian confirms.
"And what of your numbers?" I give her husband a warning glare he doesn't notice.
The Andrastrian King gives the answer happily. It still doesn't make me appreciate the grilling of our allies. "I've offered forty-thousand troops and twenty-thousand of our best archers to our fight."
"Sixty-thousand?" Edmond exclaims. His eyes aren't the only ones that have slightly widened at the King once more. I'm slightly angered at the fact that no one else here seemed to have planned on giving similar large numbers. They all have them.
I'm aware that Vandaria and Thralia can't give the same numbers since we've taken a great loss in the past months, but they have the entirety of their forces to help, and it seems the foreign King is the only one taking the threat seriously. I'm hoping tonight's little show has helped, but it looks as if it only scared them further.
"That's a greatly generous offer," Celestria gawks. She didn't seem to have any intention of giving such numbers either, despite her earlier claim that she'd send her whole army in vengeance for her brother's life - which we saved.
Never believe the word of a royal. They're trained to lie to flatter and get their way.
"A simple debt being paid," Ascian responds, shrugging his shoulder. I smile a little, knowing Branka is likely the reason.
"Debt?" Sely questions. "Did one of their sentinels save your sibling, as well?" I glare at her teasing tone, not enjoying that despite her earlier support, she's still a ruler who questions everything and believes herself to be above all.
"No, they saved me. I was trapped within The Blight for five years," he explains. "They got me out and helped me to reclaim my throne that had been taken from the same people that killed my family. They framed me for their murders and cast me into exile, to which I was forced to live within the Blight until their sentinel returned me home. My people weren't necessarily happy within those five years."
"I thought you said that no one escapes this...Blight."
Ascian keeps his composure with Queen Reyna. I would've snapped at her into pleasant silence by now. "Then allow me to amend my earlier statement. No one of human birth may leave, though now that someone of magical origins has done so, we believe that the Blight has been angered and will not be so kind as to allow us to pass through once more. At least, not so easily."
"You speak as if it's a living thing," King Edmond says. I'm impressed with how much he's spoken. He's usually quiet, but I like how much of an interest he takes in the secrets of the magical world.
"It is. The Blight is of its own mind and will - at least, its border and trees are. Every life within it is of its own nature and creation."
"Any demons?" Markus asks. He seems bored. That makes two of us.
"No." I squint at the Andrastrian. There's more to his answer yet he doesn't continue. Darius seems to be the only other one to notice as our little group drifts into silence.
I glance behind the Kiethan rulers, listening as the musicians seamlessly drift into their next song and those on the floor find their positions coinciding with it. The notes grab my attention again, and I nervously muster up some confidence to turn to our Andrastrian ally. "Your sister told me you wished to speak to me."
The other rulers tense slightly as he bows. "At your convenience, Queen Clarice."
I avoid the urge to cringe at the title and heather on respect, and keep the smile on my lips convincing.
"Will you do me the
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