How To Burn A Witch |DISCONTINUED|

Chapter 19

Trigger warning: this chapter contains implied sexual harassment. If this is a triggering topic for you, please do not read this chapter. 

Before she was Şahmeran, she was Yemliha. Yemliha the sweet young girl, the one who died when she was forced into the cauldron. She was the symbol of her innocence, stolen by Camsab who claimed they were friends then tried to feed her to the sovereign.

But still, she liked to pretend.

She liked pretending that she was still Yemliha, still the queen she used to be. And in those few seconds of pretense, she felt free, untethered by the weight of her crown but she also felt terribly weak. The queen of snakes let out a small sigh.

She liked being Yemliha, liked that she was kind and nurturing, that the piece of kindness that had been stolen from Şahmeran's soul had gone into making the perfect Matrone.

When she pretended to be Yemliha, she'd be warm and always smiling. She'd think of her time as the young queen of Maran, not the one who had been fool enough to trust Camsab, to trust his honey-glazed words only to get betrayed in the end.

A thing she liked to do however, was mix her two façades together to create the ultimate weapon. With her current self's sharp wit and her past's kind nature, she gave off an innocent look that caused the people she talked with to let their guards down around her.

Everyone she had ever talked to using the combination of her two façades would speak carelessly around her, letting their secrets slip from their lips like grains of sand through a person's fingers.

She could feel the excitement of the remnants of her past self humming in her head, making it a little fuzzy. She smiled a little, the younger side of her was excited to meet their new addition to the coven.

I must appear strict at first. Şahmeran thought to herself.

The knock at the door made the queen jolt. She immediately sat at her leather chair and let Noodles rest his head on her shoulder. His forked tongue slipped out of his mouth to make a low hiss.

"Come in." her voice came out cool and collected. The door opened to reveal the Headpriestess of her coven and six teens standing behind her.

She recognized all but one, a girl of average height with dark brown hair. She couldn't decide whether it was naturally this messy or if she had been hit by a typhoon. Her hazel eyes gleamed with a hint of fear as she eyed her snake half.

Şahmeran's gaze traveled from her face to the clothes she was wearing, a red velvet cloak that was all too familiar and leather armor with loose, black clothing underneath.

The huntress. It seems like Alev has succeeded in her task. She shot the fire witch an impressed look.

"Matrone, allow me to introduce you to Blaise. The replacement for the huntress who died after she tried to attack me." the woman didn't let her confusion show but cocked her head to the side in interest.

I guess she doesn't want Mizuki and Feng to know the girl is a huntress. Rightfully so, they've been hunting for one. A little voice whispered into her head.

"And why is this new addition wearing the cloak of a sherrais?" the girl𑁋 Blaise her name was, visibly gulped as she tried to come up with an excuse. The suspicion in Mizuki's eyes flared. So she has been suspecting it, huh? That girl has great instincts.

"It's a trophy, my Lady." said the girl between her gritted teeth, "A sherrais tried to attack me. Though I do not have control over my magic, I do have experience in hand to hand combat."