AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It just makes me laugh in mockery at them because I’m the one in the power seat.
“Being confrontational without fearing the consequences is not theatrical,” I whisper. “Acting as if death is but an occasion to be celebrated instead of mourned should be punished.”
My smile can’t get any more cynical as I let the full extent of my aura loose.
I hear every single gasp from that steel table of cloaked fae, and what better way to show them just how smart I am?
There’s nothing holding me back now.
“Ophira,” I whisper the name so effortlessly, yet my command reveals the eight beings sitting at their high table. Beams of light illuminate their cloaked figures, but that move isn’t enough to satisfy me.
“Hisssss!” My golden serpent is already moving out of the hidden curtain of my hair, moving along my lifted arm, seething in hunger at the scent of my blood.
“I love when beings in high positions underestimate me,” I declare with pride. “Makes moments like these much more satisfying.”
“Complete the request!”
“The fountain in the entry trial. That’s the water you all use to water the roses. The gardens, the lands of the school grounds, and even use that water to ‘purify’ the remnants of death that remain every year, yes?”
I can feel their confusion.
“They say Vipers are sneaky for multiple reasons, but a snake, in general, is only a threat when they show their fangs in warning,” I stress with importance as I watch Ophira slither closer to my bleeding wound.
I’m feeling woozy by the second, but I force myself to finish what I started.
“The moment Ophira bites my wrist, her poison will spread through my blood. The same blood that still lingers in your fountain. The same blood you use to water your wildlife. The same water that’s surely filtered to other areas I’ve yet to discover,” I announce.
The air hasn’t been tenser.
“My blood bleeds upon the very ground of my Notorious Worm’s nest. The same nest that has enough water to preserve the roses that bloom there,” I remind, knowing these bastards surely didn’t think about these little things when I was fighting to survive. “The poison will trigger a chain reaction and kill everything in its path. The roses. The gardens. The lands that are plagued with tainted blood. The only way to stop it is by getting one who shares my blood to undo my poison, but last time I checked, my sister is missing, and my mother is but a crazed outcast for not being a useful Gilded Merger for giving birth to little old me.”
My smile couldn’t be grander as I lift my arms up and dare to take a bow.
Like we’re preparing for a dance.
“Stop this madness!” the booming voice demands, but I hear a tiny quiver of fear.
I smell it in the very air I breathe.
“Then you’ll have to offer me a bargain,” I offer and look at the floor where Asher’s body remains. “We and those who share the emblem I’m destined to wear during our official attendance at N.M.U. will safely return to campus, where we’ll be taught the curriculum that will give us the tools to survive your next set of trials.”
I pause, so they’re forced to register every word.
“That is… if there are any more in the near future.”
They’re struggling to reply, which cues Ophira’s hissing sound as she lifts her body up in preparation for darting toward my open wound.
Fangs descend and are ready to delve into my flesh.
When they hesitate, I smile, knowing my end is imminent.
“Well, then,” I say my final words. “Prepare to enjoy what it’s like to burn, for my destined shadows will ensure every one of you perish from having a hand in my demise.”
“HISSSSS!”
“STOP!”
Ophira freezes at the last second before she moves to wrap around my wrist. I don’t flinch at the pain from her tightened grip because she gives me the perfect coverage to send my magic to the open wound.
