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“Stand down, Badb,” I commanded.
The blue stone winked out, and Dagda’s skin took on its normal golden hue. Badb’s eyes grew wide, whether by the fact that I was alive or by the fact that she was forced to comply, I wasn’t sure.
I turned to face my other sister. “Stop. Everybody—don’t move!”
The room, once in a motion of chaos, now went utterly still. Even the guards, one inches away from chopping off Keelin’s head—he even had him by the hair.
“Release Keelin,” I said to Macha. Her eyes darted about in surprise but she raised her hand and the vines binding them retracted. “Good. Now bind the traitorous guards. Keelin, you may move freely.” The vines whipped up and attached to the guards, wrapping them up. Keelin rose and rushed toward Dagda’s prone form on the ground.
“What is this?” Badb snarled. Her body trembled over Dagda’s like she were trying to fight the order, straining to push through the magic that held her bound.
“Badb destroyed you,” Macha said. Something like panic flashed through her gaze. “I saw the power hit you.”
I stared at her with disdain. “I’m Queen Morrigan of the Faeries. My life, my blood, is bound to that scepter. You really think I could be hurt by it?”
A hiss escaped Badb. “You can’t justspeakand—”
“I’m your sovereign. Turns out I, your dear sister, was blessed with an affinity after all.” Both Badb and Macha’s eyes widened. “Although I should thank you, the power you granted me has made my affinity stronger than ever.”
My smile faded as I stared at Badb. “Now, take one of the guard’s swords and make Macha fall.”
Badb’s gaze narrowed. “You would not.”
“Now.”
She walked over to one of the bound guards, took his sword out of his grasp and headed over to Macha, who stood, still unable to move.
Macha trembled, sending ripples through the fabric of her cloak as she watched Badb approach. “You promised me we would be free.”
“Forgive me, sister.” Badb raised the swords and in one swift strike, Macha’s head fell to the throne room floor.
Her body burst to ash and it sifted through the air into a large cloud and then it slammed into me, through my mouth, my nose, into the very pours of my body. I fell to the floor choking on it, on my sister.
What the hell?
I staggered weakly to my feet as if I had expected that to happen. Badb watched me, the murderous intent in her eyes, my eyes.
“You know what comes next,” I said quietly. “Or should I have someone else do the honors?”
A wild snarl tore from her. “One day, I am going to win. I shall win and I will see you beg at my feet as I rip everything you love from you and then offer you a slow, excruciating death.”
My eyes dropped to Dagda, laying unmoving on the ground. Keelin knelt next to him. “We must get a healer here before he becomes permanently paralyzed.”
I nodded, never taking my eyes from Badb’s enraged face. “Go.”
His hurried footsteps echoed across broken stone and rubble as he went.
“What will it be, Badb?” I asked.
She threw the sword to the ground. “You think you deserve this right, to command us? To bind us? Then you do it.”
A kind of test. To see if she could break me this one last time. But I felt the power inside me beginning to wane, I needed to resolve this soon.
You must bring your sisters into submission as you once did so long ago, the bog witch had said.Only you shall know when you are worthy. Your test begins now.
And I realized the ceremony was still going on. The test that had started in the bog had not yet finished.Thiswas the final test.
A test of whether I was worthy of being a good ruler over my sisters.
