Of magic and blood

Chapter Forty

Breathing hard, the door closed behind Lily and I with a creak and a sigh. A forbidding sense of finality washed over me.

That was it. We had no more help. It was just us against her.

The door led into an antechamber, smaller than the one we left behind, with large glass windows overlooking the spreading valley below.

She sat on a throne, calm and collected and cold. Lily trembled from next to me, but I felt strangely calm.

"I should've known my weak excuse of a sister hadn't had the courage to kill you herself." Her voice had a condescending tone hidden beneath the frost, "It just goes to show that if you want something done, you do it yourself."

"Why?" I asked, clenching my fist around the wand, "Why did you do it? We were children. We were innocent. Calluna had never done anything to you, she loved you."

Anger sparked in her face, "My sister was weak! I was more fit to rule, I deserved the throne, I knew I was stronger."

"Stronger how?" I demanded, "Stronger because of dark magic? It's consuming you. It's taking over. Do you not understand that you can't control it?"

"What do you know of power? You are but a child, girl."

I lifted my chin, determined and angry, "I know enough to understand that this isn't who you are."

"She's right."

Calluna appeared from the shadows, her face overcome with sadness as she looked at her sister. My grip on the wand was starting to hurt, but I didn't dare let go of the magical object.

Morgana's soulless eyes sparked with an anger that frightened me. I had never seen a person so corrupted with power and magic. She no longer looked as though she was human.

And it scared me more than I would've thought.

"I should've known you'd be here." Morgana hissed, "Do you not remember, dear sister, that you were banished?"

Calluna was shaking, I could tell that much, but she stood strong against the creature before us, "Your word no longer carries the same power as you once thought. The people are rising up against your tyranny. How could you have not foreseen this, Morgana? Are you so power-crazed that you have gone blind to the people of your kingdom?"

"The people adore me. I have ruled better than you ever did."

"No."

The word echoed against the walls. And a look of surprise crumbled over Morgana's face.

"The people are scared. They are scared of you. They live in fear and poverty." Calluna clenched her fists, "This must come to an end. This has to stop."

Many things happened at once. Morgana spoke a spell, the magic buzzing in the back of my mouth with a foul, sour note, and I grabbed Lily, flinging her down just as the crackling energy shot over our heads. I felt the heat of the magic on my back, the lingering dizziness of such a strong spell.