A Hymn of Snakes

THIRTY FOUR

I slid my hand against the chess board, putting up the pieces as Holstein sat across from me. Kate in the windowsill as she watched the sun rise for our world, I was winning but I didn't really care that much. I had too much on my mind, "What happens to the witches if I don't marry him?" I asked sharply, his eyes flickering up to me. Leon watched up play from afar, we all waited for the next move. Holstein moved his pawn and my eyes looked back down to the game board, "What happens to me if I refuse him?" I asked, the atmosphere shifting.

"Delia." Holstein said as he stopped playing, putting his back to his chair.

I lifted my finger to him and forced him to stop, the room silenced. Ithe in the back of my head pulled on the chords of magic, "Don't lie to me Holstein. When you found me on the train you told me that the Delia you knew looked her enemy in their eye." Guilt absorbed his face, I was pushing a button he didn't want to be touched. "Tell me what will happen if I look my enemy in the eye this time?" I asked again, fear warped against his gaze.

He considered it for a moment, the grave consequences of my actions. Settling down into a new stance of himself, chewing on his lip. Then he spoke again, his words crueler than before. "The Queen will remove you from her household and you'll lose sovereignty." Which means I'll be giving over the witches' safety, so in the end the Keepers would win. I should have known.

"So all of this was for nothing?" I asked, sliding my chair from the table as I stalked around the room. They all watched as my head tinkered in thought. I should have known, people like the Queen only thought about themselves. "She knew she could leverage them over me didn't she." Laughter bubbling from the edges of my teeth, until I slipped out of my sanity. Rightfully so.

Then the most loyal Ambassador surprised me, Holstein watched me effortlessly- until he came down to mark his conclusion. "Whatever you decided I will support you." I stopped in my tracks.

"You'll go against your Queen?" I asked him, testing to see where his ambitions lied. Ithe told me that he had an honest idea, his heart more open to the idea of my rebellion than most. He rooted the idea in my head, I swallowed down as Ithe judged my temptation. There was no way I could be Queen, there was no way I would ever want that. However, I would do what I could to protect the witches- even if that meant starting an uprising and stirring up war.

He looked down to the game bird and resumed play, moving the pieces as he insinuated what we needed to do. If Holstein Schwarz was on my side, I would hold onto more courage to move. His subjection began as so, "I never devoted myself to the Tepes', I was chosen as Ambassador because I was honest and I always followed my instincts." He told me, a little courage igniting in my heart. Kate turned her attention to the conversation and Leon checked to make sure no one was coming our way. "Right now my instincts tell me that you have a much larger roll to play, far bigger than just a simple witch." He told me and I almost grew flustered.

"So what do we do?" I asked, moving my chess piece. Getting closer and closer to capturing his Queen."Start an uprising?" I asked a little intrigued. I sounded a lot like Natalia now, just without the vindictive hatred.

Then Holstein moved closer to the game board and moved one piece, leaving me stuck. No matter what move I made he would have checkmate, I smiled. He played innocence well, I guess I would need that trickery to food court. "We show them why the Keepers call you the Judas Witch." He implied.

"I'm starting to like that nickname." A smile crossed my face.

Kate perked her voice, throwing her cherry red hair over her shoulder as she pushed her body off of the window. "You better, I would use it to brag to all my friends back in Seattle." She told me, standing next to Holstein as she elbowed him. They looked at one another.