My arms crackle this evening.The glimmering light in the runes glows and hums and stays strong.I am so close.
Ignatius’s footsteps echo down the dungeon corridor.He slides into view and my heart beats in my throat.
The runes thrum deep inside me, and I pray to the gods who will listen that I can stop him this time.He can’t take anymore from me.I stand up, tense and ready for whatever he’s going to do to me.
“Did you hear the good news, daughter?”
I shake my head.
“Arcadius is coming today.Rumour has it, he’s stepping down.He thinks there’s someone better suited to the role of archdevil.”
“Let me guess,” I say, leaning against the damp stone walls.“That someone is you?”
Ignatius feigns shock.“Brava, my love.”
A second set of steps trickle into the corridor.Arcadius.While Ignatius may be full of the ego my power has given him, he flinches at the prospect of the other man’s arrival, no doubt because Arcadius has bestowed enough derision on him over the years, he will always be wary.
“Good afternoon, Chancellor,” Ignatius starts.
“Let’s get this over with, shall we?”Arcadius drawls, his shoulders drawn back and rigid.
“Do you renounce your position?”Ignatius says, and I have to wonder how he’s done this.Surely my power isn’t that effective?Perhaps Ignatius is just that good at removing possibility.But the thrum in my veins kicks harder, a staccato fury, like it’s claiming responsibility.
And when I think about it, Arcadius already is the Chancellor.It’s not like he’s stepped down, and the role is vacant with two people vying for it.At least in that scenario, Ignatius could remove the possibility of the other person getting it.
No, he had tocreatethe possibility of Arcadius stepping down.And demons can’t create anything other than a deal.They remove possibility.
This is definitely my magic.As soon as I have the thought, the runes return to the steady beat I’ve become accustomed to.
“I said, do you renounce your position?”
Arcadius trembles, but not from fear.His entire body ripples with violence.His eyes narrow, teeth grinding against each other.
“You think it’s so easy to rule this realm?”Arcadius sneers.
“I think I’ll keep a tighter control of it than you have.Look at this mess.”
Arcadius throws his head back and booms a laugh out.
“This mess you speak so freely of, is yours, Ignatius.Let’s not forget who lied to the city.Who had to imprison his own daughter because he wasn’t strong enough to take the city from me in the first place.”
“And yet… here I am, taking exactly that.So tell me, Chancellor, whose city is it now?Renounce your position…” It’s not a question.
No matter how it’s phrased, Ignatius isn’t asking.This will happen.His arm bristles, his flesh brightening almost.It’s not like mine, filled with glowing runes.Ignatius’s body balloons, swells with the power he’s stolen from me, minus the elegance of the swirl and cut and curve of my runes.His light is ugly and bloated.
Arcadius’s lip curls.He doesn’t want to say it, doesn’t want to relinquish.And he is strong, he’s the archdevil.
But Ignatius isn’t backing down either.A pulse throbs in his neck, the vein glowing a deep red under his flesh.
“Y—” Arcadius starts.
But Ignatius swings his arm out in a vicious punch, his fist a ball of deep red light.Moths swarm around him, filling the corridor as he reshapes his fate and the reality we knew.His fist slams into Arcadius’s chest, severing his words.
Instead, the tiniest gasp escapes the chancellor’s lips.
“Wh—what are you doing?”he says, his voice several octaves higher than I’ve ever heard it.
There’s a crack like glass and crystals.
