The black tank top she wears is now only held up by one strap, and her black leggings have been torn open in multiple places. The loose curls that used to fall gracefully around her face are now wild with tangles and knots. Open wounds and healed scars mark up the areas of her body that are visible.
She’s nothing but a living corpse, waiting for death’s kiss.
I look away, not wanting to see what I’ve become. I want to remember myself as the girl I was two months ago. The girl who was capable and strong. The girl whose heart was full of love. Whose life hadn’t yet imploded.
Ironic that it took until now for me to truly appreciate how far I had come in the last two years.
“Rumor has it, you’ve been stubborn when it comes to using your power,” the king begins again. “I admire your resistance, but I have a job for you, and it requires your cooperation.”
“Well, it looks like you’ll have to find someone else to do your dirty work.” I spit on the floor in front of me, imagining it were his face instead.
“I had a feeling you might say that, which is why I thought you may need some motivation.” He pauses, looking past me toward the back of the room. “Bring her in!”
There’s no need for me to turn around. I can already see her in the reflection of the mirror still positioned in front of me.
The chains binding her ankles scrape across the marble floor with each step.
When she stops next to me, our eyes finally meet. Even bruised, they bring a sense of warmth with them. I reach for her, but my wrists are yanked back before our hands have a chance to touch.
“I’m so sorry.” My voice breaks with the apology.
“Shh, this is not your fault,” she whispers back.
“Let her go!” I plead to the king. “You have me, you don’t need her.”
“Actually, I think I do. Bring the other one out,” he orders to someone I can’t see.
The skeletal man, who had just brought out the mirror, is dragged back out by a Royal Guard.
“Bring them forward.”
The two of them are pulled to the very front of the dais and pushed onto their knees, just as I was.
“Now, Reign, you have two choices. Set my prisoner here on fire or watch her lose her head.”
“NO! You monster! Let them go! Kill me instead,” I offer with a pitiful cry.
The older man begins to sob uncontrollably as fear coats his face.
“Sorry, but that’s not one of the options,” he hisses with a sinister grin.
“It’s going to be okay, Reign. Be the strong girl I know you are,” she says as a single tear slowly falls down her cheek.
The power dampening collar unlatches and falls to the floor in front of me.
“You have three seconds to decide. Three. Two.”
“AGATHA!”
Her body falls to the side, sending her head rolling. It stops a few feet from me, and her kind eyes, that have always brought so much comfort, are now stilled by death. The sound that escapes my throat is similar to that of a dying animal.
Everything around me goes dark as I look at the face of the woman who had become a mother figure to me these past two years. It’s as if the world has instantly dimmed with the loss of her life.
My fire lashes inside me, demanding to be let out. Rage and sorrow battle one another, fighting to take control. I’m just about to give in when I let out an ear-shattering scream instead. I grab my head with both hands, letting the screams of anguish tear through the room.
They ricochet off the marble, echoing one after the other. I use it as my outlet for every emotion now threatening to consume me. Guilt, anger, hate, grief, all flare within me, and I don’t bother suppressing them.
The cries of pain don’t stop until my voice gives out, finally falling silent.
