Daughter of Darkness

Chapter 8

"What is that?" Lady Bedivere screeches, pushing away from the table, while Captain DeGray barks out a sharp curse. The council all starts talking at once, each person trying to be louder than the next, jabbing accusing fingers at Willow. 

I know exactly what it is. Burned into her skin, right where I saw the tentacle of darkness twist around her forearm, is a bright red hand print, black around the edges. The necromancer imprinted my sister, scorched a mark of himself onto her flesh.

The sudden loud bang of Mortimer slamming his cane onto the table makes me jump.

"Silence," he barks, his voice unexpectedly fierce. "Now, if you will remain calm, we can look at this logically. The child has been marked by the necromancer, which is unfortunate but what do we have to fear? She fought him off and now she is here in the safety of Fairhaven. He probably has no idea where she even is."

"What if he uses it to find me?" Willow's voice in timid and her head is ducked in shame. But all I can think about is all the times over the past few days that I saw her rubbing her wrist or tugging at her sleeve and I brushed it off as nerves. She hadn't told me. She hadn't trusted me.

"Even if he learns where you are, he can't move against you. You're safe here."

"And perhaps we can use this to our advantage," Lord Ransford muses. "If this is some sort of mark to track her, we have a potential way to bring him to her once she's ready to face him. We can use that to set up a fight on our terms." His eyes are as cold and unforgiving as an icy winter rain. 

Captain DeGray surges to his feet. "Edwin, you can't seriously be suggesting we use a teenage girl as bait?" 

"Of course not." His smile is oily. "I'm merely trying to point out the positives of a negative situation. And if we have something to use to our advantage, why wouldn't we?"

"I hope you are kidding." I speak slowly, trying to rein in the anger that is threatening to explode. "Willow is a child. She is fifteen years old. And you're telling me that, on top of forcing a crown on her head, you expect her to defeat a creature that you apparently aren't able to kill with a whole royal army. A creature that hunted her down and invaded our home, nearly killing us both."

"A child she may be, but she still has powers more amazing than we could imagine." Mortimer's factual voice pushes me over the edge. "You have to understand-"

"Oh, don't worry, I understand perfectly." I push myself to my feet, voice raising. "All of this is bullshit. You don't care about Willow, you don't care about her destiny or what the gods have planned for her. All you care about is what she can do for you, how she can make your lives a little easier. And you're trying to bribe her with a shiny crown and promises of greatness."

I take a deep breath. Everyone at the table, including Willow, looks stunned. Good.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves," I hiss. "Come on Willow, we're leaving. We can go wherever you want, wherever you think you need to be, but I won't let you stay here and be a puppet queen for these self-serving pigs."

Willow's voice is quite but firm."And what if I think that here is where I need to be?"

"It's not! You can't truly believe that it is. You said it yourself, you aren't fit to rule and you can't control your powers!"

"Then I'll learn!" Her chin juts out stubbornly. "I'll do whatever I need to so I can help!"

"I need you to listen to me," I plead. "I know you want to be noble and I know this seems like fate, but I can promise that you aren't meant to die for these people. I can't watch you do that."