Maiden of Moonlight | Tedros Pendragon

Chapter 2.13

" Hell is empty and all the devils are here. "

William Shakespeare

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Blood stained blue cloth red.

A pool of aggressive crimson marred porcelain skin as Marya Montague got fainter by the second. She had felt fine just a moment ago, yet once the ring left her finger–leaving behind burnt flesh around her middle–the pain was all that was on the brunette's mind as she fought to remain present. They were all in danger, and she needed to focus. 

It was incredibly hard to keep track of everything happening at once.

Sophie had been transformed into a boy to get close with Tedros; Agatha had planned the whole thing, and distanced herself from the Montague to avoid suspicion (which really only made the girl suspect the reader even more).

Then there was Gavriel, who had absolutely no clue as to what was going on while embracing his princess from any harm.

Now, Marya felt worry bubble through her at the sight of the blue willow branches beginning to glimmer like tinsel throughout the glen. The shimmer detonated like a storm cloud, sweeping down over the trees. In the moonlight, the five students saw the sparkles were butterflies, thousands of blue butterflies, that had given the willow their glow. 

The brunette suddenly became much more alert, and her body seemed to go into overdrive as the pain faded away. 

Like locusts, the butterflies swarmed the glen in a violent gale. Gavriel--who once shielded Agatha from the attack--now lay on the ground, covering his face with his cloak whilst Tedros hacked at them uselessly with his sword. It did nothing, nothing at all as Lady Lesso was harshly pulled off the earth by a cloud of the blue insects. 

" Evelyn–" The former dean gasped, horror-struck. " She heard everything–"

Marya felt dread soak her bones when a panicked Lady Lesso pressed her lips to the girl's ear as the butterflies attempted to drag her away, " Kiss him, Marya! You must kiss Tedros! Agatha must kiss Gavriel when the time comes!" 

And then she was ripped away in a flourish, the fluttering insects kidnapping the teacher back to the school, her last pleas drowned out by the sound of war.

The brunette was tense, peering over at Agatha who seemed frozen in the moonlit glen, gulping shallow breaths.

She heard.

" What did she say?" A voice spoke.

Both girls turned to see Gavriel staggering up, chestnut locks mussed. 

" Agatha?" Said another voice. The remaining hellish smoke from Lesso's purple blast dissipated through the trees, Sophie revealed amidst the towering oaks. " What did Lady Lesso say?" 

Marya frowned as the ravenette stared at her best friend from Gavaldon from across the glen, war cries echoing far away like a symphony of chaos.

No answer came, not as the treetops overhead suddenly began to rustle and sway, a heavy crackling sound tearing towards them–

The Montague gasped, yanking at Agatha's wrist harshly to move her out of the way as the one in closest proximity to the reader. 

She never believed she would see such a thing.

It seemed impossible for the School Master's silver tower to fall, yet the structure that was meant to stand the testament of time crashed through the billowing willows and cobalt oaks. It glided into the moonlight and skidded to a halt, rupturing the ground with its force–splitting Tedros and Gavriel on one side, Sophie to the other, across a long, ragged crack in the ground with the two former evergirls straddling the fault line between them.