The Curse of Thorns

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Briar's breath came in ragged, heavy gasps. Her mind whirled with the realization that she had been nothing more than a puppet, dancing on strings controlled by the Wicked Fairy. The magical objects she had risked her life to collect—the ones that had brought her and her friends to the brink of death—had all been for nothing. They had nearly been devoured by the witch. Leon had narrowly escaped the deadly poison of the monstrous snake, and countless other perils had beset them. All for nothing. She felt like such a fool.

Her shock quickly transformed into a seething anger. She turned her furious gaze to Evalina, who had not only betrayed her but also her father, her kingdom, and everything she had fought to protect. "You!" Briar's voice trembled with fury as she lunged at Evalina, her hands closing around the fairy's neck. "Why did you do this?"

Evalina barely flinched. With a dismissive flick of her wrist, she tossed Briar aside effortlessly, as if the princess weighed no more than a feather. "To reclaim what is rightfully ours," she said coldly.

Before Briar could scramble to her feet and launch herself at the fairy again, an invisible force slammed into her, pinning her to the ground with a crushing weight. It felt as though a giant was standing on her back, pressing her deeper into the earth.

"Your place is in the dirt," the Wicked Fairy spat, her voice a venomous hiss. "You are born to serve us."

The more Briar struggled, the more the pressure increased. Her muscles screamed in protest, and she could barely breathe under the weight.

The Wicked Fairy, with a cold, satisfied smile, sauntered over to the fairy queen's statue. She gazed up at it with eyes full of contempt. "Tara failed to be the rightful ruler," she said. "She failed to teach the world to bow to our power. We are superior beings."

Evalina nodded in agreement, her expression mirroring the Wicked Fairy's hatred. "She was never the right one, Mowena. She seized your place. It should have been you all along."

A wicked smile spread across the Wicked Fairy's face. "I can fix that, sister," she said, raising her wand. A bolt of lightning shot from the wand's tip, striking the statue of the fairy queen. Cracks began to spiderweb across the stone surface, starting at the head and rapidly spreading down the body. With a final, ear-splitting crack, the statue shattered, the pieces tumbling to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris.

Briar watched helplessly from the ground, despair flooding her heart. This destruction, was all because of her. She had unwittingly enabled these monsters to wreak havoc.

"It won't be her statue standing here next time," the Wicked Fairy said, her voice filled with cruel satisfaction. She pointed her wand at the spot where the statue had stood moments before. With a rumbling sound, the earth split apart, and a new statue began to rise from the ground. It was taller and grander than the fairy queen's statue. It depicted the Wicked Fairy herself. The fairy queen's crown sat atop her head, and the Wand of Elements was clutched in her hand.

Evalina clapped her hands in glee. "Much better."

The Wicked Fairy turned her attention to the statues of the elder fairies, her eyes blazing with hatred. "They always criticized me, always sided with Tara," she snarled. "When I am queen, I will banish them from Fairyland. I will create my own rules."

"The elder fairies could be useful, sister," Evalina suggested. "They could serve as your advisors. You're going to rule the world. You'll need many servants."

"There is no place for servants in my shrine," the Wicked Fairy hissed. Her eyes flashed an ominous red, and with another lightning bolt from her wand, the statues of the elder fairies exploded into countless fragments.