ALL US VILLAINS

Chapter Thirty-Seven

There's a strange sort of quiet filling the woman's head while she approaches the king. Part of her feels as though she is no longer inside of her body. Every action that she is currently making is caused by someone else pulling the strings.

It is the stranger inside of her body that bricked Liam up inside of the wall. The stranger is the one watching the king inch into the smallest corner of the room. They are the one pulling the knife from its strap.

The king makes a poor attempt to call the guards, his voice strangled and muffled. When he opens his mouth to speak again, Diana uses her magic to prevent his vocal chords from rubbing together.

Using her magic, Diana slowly embeds him into the wall until all that can be seen of him is his fleshy neck and his head.

She presses the knife against the man's throat, on the threshold of breaking skin. All it would take is one slice, and this entire nightmare will be over. She will have her revenge and Andrew will be brought to justice.

"You took everything from me," Diana states through grit teeth. "The man I loved, my magic, my dignity, my sanity. You took it all as if I meant nothing— as if I was nothing." Tears sting her eyes and blur her vision. She angrily blinks them away. "You do not deserve to live."

In the background, she can hear Liam calling her name. His poor attempts to pull her from this ledge will do no good. She's committed to killing him. It's what he deserves.

Somewhere behind her, the queen gasps. She murmurs something to herself that Diana cannot quite make out from this distance.

Something warm and light touches the sorceress's shoulder. It lifts some of the heaviness from her chest and briefly distracts her from her overwhelming grief and anger. Andrew gives her a sad look while shaking his head. "I know what my unfinished business is," he claims. Slowly, he reaches out a hand and brushes away one of Diana's tears. Surprisingly, she can feel the contact that he makes with her face. "It was to stop you from doing something that you will one day come to regret."

Shaking her head, Diana brings her focus back to the king. She will never come to regret killing the king. Not after everything he has done.

"I know that you are angry, Diana. I was too. I still am," Andrew presses. "You believe that if you channel all of that anger into this, then you will feel better." There's a brief pause while the ghost moves to the side of her vision. "I promise you, this will only make your pain worse. If it is by your sword that the king falls upon, everyone will come to hate you."

"They already hate me!" Diana exclaims to the specter. She turns away from the king so that she can face the ghost. "They are going to hate me no matter what I do, so I may as well be the monster they see me as."

"Diana, please," the queen states. When Diana turns to look at her, the woman is clutching at the material of her dress around her stomach. The woman's face is patchy with redness, stained from the tears that are freely flowing from her eyes. "I, of anyone, can understand your anger." Katherine's gaze slowly slips to where the king is sobbing in the wall. "The monster behind you took my son." Her voice cracks and her lips wobble. She clears her throat and squeezes her eyes shut. "He made you appear to be a monster. He made you untrustworthy. He locked you away without second thought and made everyone curse your name before all of the gods. And believe me when I promise that his punishment will be double that of yours. In life and in death."

Gesturing toward the coward, Katherine shakes her head. "But if you kill him now, you will be granting him mercy. You will shorten his sentence while only extending yours— and you have suffered far more than enough."

As much as she hates to admit it, Diana knows that the queen is right. Deep down, she even knows that Andrew is right. Killing the king will not end her grief. It will not bring Andrew back to life.

Liam gives her a pleading look, begging for her to see to reason. He does not appear to be hurt or betrayed by her actions, somehow believing that she is going to step away from this ledge. If she follows through with this, she will only drive a wedge between herself and her husband.

She frees the prince from the wall. Diana manages a few steps away from the king in the prince's direction before she stops. Spinning the knife in her hand, Diana extends the hilt toward her husband. "Please, get this away from me before I use it."

Slowly, Liam removes the knife from her grip. He studies her carefully for a moment before he calls in the guards. Though he is certainly wary of her, Liam gently takes her hand in his. "We should leave," he claims. "Give you some space away from this place."

"My baby," the queen quietly states. Her attention is focused on Andrew, who is glowing a soft gold. "I've missed you so much."

Both Diana and Liam are taken aback by the queen's acknowledgement of Andrew's presence. It never occurred to Diana that Andrew's strength had grown. Even with the warmth that his ghostly touch had provided and the comfort that came with it, she never picked up on the clues.

"I've always been right there with you, mom," Andrew claims. There's a faint smile on his face.

The king finally lifts head, eyes landing on the ghost. "Andrew?" A new, louder sob leaves the man's lips. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I never meant to—"

That gold aura immediately shifts to black. Diana can feel that coldness return inside of the ghost. "Silence, fool," he hisses in a tone terribly unlike his.

Chills wash down Diana's entire body. Subconsciously, she finds herself stepping into Liam's arms. Her body is positioned in front of him to keep him safe from harm.

A strange, twisted smile appears on the ghost's face while he inches closer to his murderer. If the king could, he would most certainly run from whatever beast Prince Andrew has suddenly morphed into. "Do not worry, father. I shall be waiting for you in the afterlife." He slowly reaches out a hand, hovering it just over the king's cheek. "I, personally, will be ensuring that you suffer when I meet you in hell." Blackened fingertips press against the king's forehead, creating a strange mark on top of it. "I promise you that much."

Whatever dark magic that Andrew possessed in life, it had followed him in death. It explains his ability to possess his brother and the strength that he has as a ghost. It also explains the darkness that easily taints his ghostly aura.

When he turns to face the three people he loved most in life, Andrew returns to his calm state. "Unfortunately, this is where we all part." He offers the three of them a sad smile. "I would say that I will meet you all on the other side, but I suspect that we are not going to the same place."

First, the prince looks to his mother. "Sorry, mom, for never measuring up to the man that you always had wanted me to be."

The woman voices her protests, but it sounds choked and strangled from her tears. It's impossible to understand a word that the woman is saying.

His eyes fall to Diana and Liam, studying them closely for a moment. Jealousy clouds his eyes for a moment before he shakes his head. "I apologize, Liam, for what I became and for being such a bastardly brother.

"And, I am sorry Diana, for treating you like a pawn. You deserve much more in life."

Slowly, he begins to fade away. Andrew becomes more transparent, revealing the brick wall that is hidden behind him.

The sorceress has not had long enough to process everything to say definitively whether or not she can bring herself to forgive the prince. Even as he parts, she cannot bring herself to utter words of forgiveness in his direction. Instead, she silently watches him pass on, leaving a ruined family in his wake.