Ashlynn's words reverberated around the room, and Marilyn looked at her—in both shock and rage.
"You lying witch!" Marilyn seethed. "I'm not a witch, you are! You killed our parents! Liar!"
Ashlynn smiled nervously. "These are all lies! Why would I be a witch! You're lying, Marilyn, and you know it!"
Marilyn stalked up the steps, flames flickering in her eyes. "I'm not a liar, I'm not a murderer, and I'm not a witch!"
"Seize her!" Ashlynn screamed. "Guards, seize her!"
Marilyn was close—she was so close to burning off Ashlynn's face—when guards grabbed at her arms. Their fingers dug into her arms, and they started to forcibly drag her away.
"No, please, I'm innocent," she shrieked. "I'm not a witch! I'm not a witch!"
She opened her mouth to shriek again when she caught sight of the smirk on Ashlynn's face.
She had planned this. Ashlynn had planned all of this.
Marilyn gave up, and let them take her away. What more could she lose, anyways?
___
The door to the dungeons opened, and Marilyn leapt to her feet, hoping that it would be Miles.
Instead, it was Ashlynn with a crown—her crown—atop her head.
Marilyn scowled and sat back down.
"Leave us," Ashlynn commanded.
The guards that had been posted outside of her cell for the last several hours nodded their heads and left without a word.
Marilyn glared at her sister. Had her cell not been Warded against all magic, she would've been long gone, and the mortician would've had to look at dental records.
"Don't look at me like that," said Ashlynn.
"Remind me: Who just framed who for murder, treason, and dark magic," she snapped.
"I have a proposal for you," said Ashlynn.
"I don't want to bloody hear it," she said shortly.
"I can spare you from death."
Marilyn got up and walked towards the bars. "You're only sparing me because I have something you want. Something you need to raise Prince James."
"And what's that?"
"The untainted flame from a living Pyro."
Ashlynn's expression darkened.
"Phillippe Dragos has been dead for four years, Ashlynn. Let him rest."
"I will get your flame—no matter the cost."
Marilyn took another step forward, her face inches from the bars. "Then you're going to have to pry it from my cold dead chest."
Ashlynn steeled her jaw. "Think about it. Tomorrow morning, you will be executed by hanging."
"I would rather die than help you," Marilyn spat.
"You have until tomorrow morning to give me your final answer," said Ashlynn.
Ashlynn turned and left, the guards quickly following in. Marilyn backed away from the iron bars until her back hit the cool stones, and then she slid down until he was sitting on the floor.
I am alone, she thought.
Hugging her knees to her chest, she sat in her cell while the guards stared at her, unmoving—the cold stone against her back constantly reminding her that this hell was reality. She wanted to cry—she so badly wanted to cry—but with everything that happened, she was too numb to cry.
Murderer. Witch. Traitor to the Crown.
No, she wouldn't go out like this. She wouldn't go to the gallows being accused of her sister's crimes.
For hours she sat in her cell—watching, waiting for when the guards would change shift. They had forgotten to take the pins out of her hair; Marilyn began running through the steps of how to pick locks from when Miles taught her three years prior.
When the guards left the dungeons for the shift-change around midnight, Marilyn leapt to her feet, took a pin out of her hair, and began picking the lock through the bars.
"Come on," she muttered as she maneuvered the pin in the lock. "Come on!"
There was a quiet click as the lock unlocked, and Marilyn pushed open the door. Marilyn stepped out of her Warded cell, and lit a flame in her hand.
She walked out of the dungeons, snuffing out the flame, and began climbing the dark stairwell. The sounds of fighting echoed down the stairs. She was almost at the top when she lit a flame in both of her hands.
Dead silence. Then footsteps.
Marilyn turned the corner, flung her hands up, her flames inches from his face.
"Hey!" he said.
Marilyn's eyes widened in disbelief and she extinguished her flames. "Miles?"
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YOU ARE READING
Queen of Fire (A Light-Bringer Prequel)
FantasyEvery time a Pyro is born, the Gods flip a coin and hold their breath. Fifteen year old Princess Marilyn Pyro has everything she wants in life. She has her family, money, and her best friend, Miles Gomez. However, after an execution gone sideways, t...