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She did not ask why because the reasoning did not matter. All that did was the blood staining my clothes and the effect it had on the crowd. “What do you have to say about Prince Faenir?”
My throat closed as though hands gripped tightly around it. As I opened my mouth to reply a spluttered cough came out. It sounded as though stones filled my lungs. It took over my body, cramping and stabbing with agony.
The crowd reacted in a chorused gasp.
My hands slapped atop the strange forest floor as I tried to catch my breath. Wide-eyed, I watched droplets of deep scarlet fall from my lips and splatter across the stone. They blended seamlessly among the red petals around me.
By the time I pushed myself back on my knees I could hardly stay still. My body rocked. My mind groggy and slow.
His shuffling of feet caught my attention. I drew my eyes slowly from Claria back to Auriol who was being restrained by Gildir. His smile had faded and in place was a fearsome expression of annoyance. The fading scratch marks that she had gifted him gleamed across his skin; that made me smile.
“Faenir will answer for his crimes when he comes for you,” Claria said, unbothered. “For your sake he will behave or find that you will meet the same end as Myrinn, as Frila.”
“Fuck,” I exhaled, blood and spit spilling down my chin, “you.”
Claria’s shoulder relaxed. Her lips twitched upward at the corners as she turned her attention to the crowd. “I trust another life does not need to be taken to prove that Faenir and his Claim are not worthy to rule our beloved Evelina? Nyssa looks down upon our fading world with great sadness at what has happened… she has lost faith in us. It is important that we make amends before it is too late.”
I felt a chill race across the back of my neck. I looked over my shoulder to see if death waited behind me, ready to take me, but only the sharp tip of a sword winked back at me. There was no reason to fear the blade; my sickness would take me long before it could.
Knelt before the twisted, bitter queen of Evelina, I clung to life more desperately than I ever had.Each blink was slow. Claria spoke and her voice seemed muted and muddied.I picked out a few words, trying to focus on them as blood hummed through my ears.
Crown. Gildir. King.
More coughing grasped my body and had me bent over, mouth filling with blood.A strange, starving feeling lingered in the back of my head. It dulled the copper tang of my blood and changed it into something sweet.
“My reign as Queen has come to an end. To give Evelina the chance to stop Faenir and save this world from the undead that steal those we require for sustenance, it is time another takes up the mantle. Gildir, once Joined with his Claim, will be granted my blessing for succession. I hand over the crown and its power willingly. I forfeit my…” Claria stopped speaking suddenly, or perhaps my ears gave up.
All at once there was a silence that thrummed around the room. The falling of soft, red petals from the trees that crowned the room seemed to slow… then stop all together.
I blinked.
Gildir had Auriol’s hair gripped in his fist, sword drawn before him as he faced off something behind me.
Claria stood, skin glowing with light as though stars beamed beneath her wrinkled skin.
I wished to see what had scared them, but the world was askew.No. I laid splayed across the ground; cheek pressed to the mossy floor bed.As the cough came again, in a wave far greater than before, I could do little to sit myself up. Blood pooled within my cheeks, threatening to choke me where I lay. Unmoving, I was far too weak to hold my eyes open long enough to see what caused the room to swell with disorder.
My eyes closed again. The darkness was so welcoming I did not wish to force myself to see, all until hands brushed over my body.Seeing through narrowed eyes, I looked up at the flushed face of my sister. Auriol. Her lips were moving quickly, the veil ripped from her face to reveal the knowing horror that ruined her beauty. I could not hear her. I tried to say her name but gargled on blood as though my lungs no longer had room for air.
That look… I had seen it upon her face before, when it was much younger, many years ago.
Auriol’s ivory dress was stained red. Her fingers dripped with my blood. Droplets even graced the skin of her jaw as slick, horrid coughs continued to devour me.
I gasped for air but the blood filling my mouth, throat and lungs prevented it. The world was far too bright. Before I pinched my eyes closed again, I saw Auriol throw her head back, mouth split as her silent scream made her face feral.
This time I did not open my eyes again.
I was surrounded in darkness, freefalling through it as obsidian winds clawed at my body, pathetically trying to catch me. I went willingly, my mind’s clarity was as clear as crystal.
Somewhere in the distance I was aware of Auriol’s presence as death guided me away from her. Beyond her was Faenir, a presence of shadow and silence that this calming void recognised.They both occupied my mind. Their memories, both new and old, had my soul singing with glee.
I stopped falling. It felt as though my body hit the floor which had come up to greet me.My conscience recognised something was wrong. I should have kept falling forever and ever until I was so immersed in death that there was no return.
Yet something had stopped me.I felt the dark void regard me, judging my presence as though to see if I was worthy of it. Its decision was clear. Death chewed me up and spat me out. And as my eyes snapped open all I could feel washunger.
FAENIR
I pulled the knife free from Myrinn’s jaw. As the metal slipped free of flesh, she let out a howl. It sliced through me, itching nails of urgency across my soul which anxiety had grabbed hold of. I was careful not to touch her blood-coated skin and discarded the blade across the floor.
