Prompted Story Snippets

What Were You Expecting, Really?

I would like to say that there's a lot of unaccepting parents in this one. If that's a trigger or it makes you uncomfortable in any way please don't force yourself to read it.
Thank you!

Skadra sighed, placing one hand on her father's shoulder. Authun gazed down at the man from where they perched on a rafter high above the captured leader.

"Skadra."

"Father." Both of their tones were cool, hiding simmering anger on one side and smug satisfaction on the other.

"You sided with them? With the people that tore our family apart?"

"Technically, Authun is also our family. You know this, father dear." Skadra yanked a chair forward from its place at the grand table, the feet screeching over the polished wooden floor. "Take a seat."

"What?"

She yanked him to his feet by his bound hands, ignoring the fact that he stood at least a head above her smaller stature. Skadra tossed him into the chair with a particularly harsh gust of wind, floating over the table and taking a seat opposite him.

Authun leaped down from their perch, rolling across the floor before sitting down at the head of the table. Skadra sent a small nod in their direction, but her father didn't have the same dignity.

He lunged out of his seat towards Authun, even though he didn't get very far. Within half a second, he was slammed back into his seat by a roaring burst of wind. He snarled, turning to send a poisonous gaze at his daughter. 

"You're one of them?" Skadra tilted her head, hand outstretched from where she'd thrown him into the chair. 

"I'm a lot of things, Father. You'll have to specify."

"One of those witch monsters. Like the one that killed your mother." Skadra's face tightened at the mention of her mother. She let out a low, rumbling growl from the back of her throat.

"I don't think I have the right to call myself a witch. That requires a lot of training that I don't have." 

"So you're just a monster, then." Authun narrowed their eyes at the man, clenching their jaw.

"One might think you're describing yourself if you keep that up." In response, their captive turned to address Authun with a chastising look in his eyes.

"You don't worry too much boy. Once I've killed this witch you'll be free of her spell."

"Child, not boy." Skadra cut in, voice as cold as her artic winds. 

"My mistake." He acknowledged, raising his hands slightly. "Even so, you needn't worry. I'll have her taken care of soon enough."

"So what, you'll execute me for doing your job better than you?" Skadra scoffed, letting a small hiss escape from between her teeth. "Just because I'm technically illegal where you rule means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

"Some places would herald me as a goddess made flesh, or some kind of prophesied savior."

"That's not how we do things here."

Skadra slammed a fist on the table, a blast of wind snaking its way through the grand hall. "So you're admitting it was just your bigotry that makes you so intolerable of things you don't understand?"

"Why you-"

"If you knew when she was a child, what would you've done?" Authun cut in, voice cool and somehow detached.

He turned to glare at Authun, his dark gaze smoldering over the short distance. "I would've burned her like any other witch. Why should you care? She's one of your supposed mortal enemies, made to inherit the battles of our ancestors." 

Authun's eye twitched, betraying his thinning patience. "Skadra and I have come to an... agreement of sorts."

"What, she 'blesses' your people by making them into monsters? They're bloodthirsty, mindless bea-"

He choked on his words as the air around his throat tightened.

Skadra snarled, one hand held up in a clawed grip. "I don't need you."

"Are.. you sure.. about that?" He gasped out, hands clutching at his neck. 

"The family business can survive through one of our more, ah, estranged branches." Authun shrugged, examining one of their nails. "And I'm better at pulling strings. Skadra here is a much better candidate for the head of the family."

"You would've handed it off to one of my cousins, anyhow. You don't think me capable of something this grand." Skadra hissed, gripping his throat tighter. He clawing got more frantic as he could see his vision start to go gray around the edges. 

"I do so hate to have to tell you this, but now that I'm in charge some big changes are going to be made around here. Starting with you."

His eyes widened, panic settling in. No one would miss him. And if the next generation didn't have a use for him... well, the policy was to get rid of dead weight.

"Goodbye, Father." Skadra levitated him out of his seat, letting him float a few inches above the floor. His head tilted back until all he could see was the rafters. 

The bite of cold steel sunk into his carotid, wrenching open the vital arteries with almost savage glee. Blood flooded from both sides of his throat as he collapsed to the floor, eyes staring up in disbelief.

The last thing he saw was the horrid grin of a woman he'd long thought dead.