Page 111 of Brutal Birthright

Until now.

“Allow me to help you, exactly as you helped me all those years ago.”

With a deft flick of her fingers, his body dragged along the ground under the force of her magic. Moving towards the edge of the chasm, closer and closer, she strolled casually beside him. Looking around, she settled on the sight of a hefty-looking sword that would serve her needs adequately. Drawing it to her outstretched hand with her new found power.

It vibrated through her cells like wearing a second skin. One that she’d always been made for.

This was more like it.

Ri gagged as the hand in front of her gripped the sword and hacked down with a crude stroke. Removing the man’s twisted leg below the knee. She was no stranger to blood or death or the sight of an injury. But there was something in the malevolent glee inside the chest of the witch that made her stomach want to empty itself.

As the man howled in agony, unable to move, he begged incoherently for the end to be swift.

Only this time, she drove the pointed end of the sword straight down into his throat. A sickening crunch of cartilage and bone mixed with a gurgling sound of blood spewing forth. Twisting the blade this way and that, she savoured every second this man suffered.

Then she tossed the blade. Slick with his blood to join the pool of crimson forming beside his body. And in one swift motion of her wrist, she used her magic to wrench his head from his shoulders.

Never before had Ri witnessed power of this magnitude. It was terrifying to behold. And yet the woman’s memories–the means by which she observed all of this–simply overflowed with the kind of dark satisfaction that came from centuries to plan her revenge.

As she looked on, the woman stepped forward into the opening of the chasm and allowed her portaling magic to take hold. With smoke swirling around her and the overpowering scent of sulphur in her throat, she heard a voice echo inside her mind.

The woman’s voice.

“Wake now, Oriana.”

Chapter 35

Swimming into focus before her was the face of the woman she now knew was the subject of those memories.

Fiadh.

But how this all connected to Ri and what she was doing here was like a dense fog inside her mind. How did she even get here? She tried to move but found herself bound in place. Her hands wrapped in restraints behind her back. Seated in a chair made of black marble, with a chill encapsulating her in the darkened space that still seemed to echo with those memories from her mind’s eye.

They were all so vivid.

She could still hear the squelching sound of the man’s neck beneath the tip of the blade. The grotesque noise of his body being torn apart.

Ri leant forward and vomited onto the floor. Coughing and choking as her stomach emptied itself.

“Oh, I had expected a little more from you, fighter girl.” Fiadh mocked her in a sickly, sweet voice. Imitating the way they had spoken back at the academy when Ri had no idea who this witch truly was. “Looks like my brother hasn’t been training his recruits very well if you can’t handle the sight of a little beheading.”

The acidic taste burned up the back of Ri’s throat, and she spat out a glob of saliva to try and rid her mouth of bile.

“Why am I here?” She ignored her taunts. If there was any hope of surviving this, Ri needed to keep her wits about her. There was no telling how powerful this woman might be. Certainly, if the glimpse at her power from those memories was anything to go by.

A shudder ran through her at the thought.

“Oh, don’t worry, it isn’t you I want, Oriana.” The woman flicked a finger, and all evidence of where she’d been sick moments before vanished in an instant. The room around them immediately morphed, shifted, and turned into an ornate throne room. One that was outfitted with polished black stone floors, walls, and golden torches lined the walls. Glimmering opulent chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting a flickering glow across the polished surface of the stone. It reflected the light and made it bounce around in a way that left Ri feeling dizzy.

“Then just let me go. If it isn’t me you want, I’m nothing and no one.” Fuck she hoped Ruby was safe. There was no telling what this witch might do if she attempted to manipulate her sister into giving her whatever it was she wanted out of this.

But then her mind stopped short on what Fiadh had said moments before.

Her brother?

Suddenly, a collision of memories and pieces of conversation hurtled together in her mind. This was their sister. The one who was never mentioned by any of the Nocturnes. And now that she had been shown her memories, it all became clear.

Fiadh had been imprisoned by the House of Elharean all this time.

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