Page 68 of Revenge of the Forgotten

The sinister smile she’d started to adorn pulled at her cheeks, never leaving her beautiful face.

Bridger was hovering in the air, just like Vega’s dad had been, not able to move an inch.

Marlena marveled at him, no, at what she was doing. “Wow,” she said, exhaling. Bridger watched her test her newfound powers as he observed her in horror.

What the fuck has she done?

She flicked her wrist, and Bridger slammed into the wall, the adobe clay splintering from the force as his ribs cracked, collapsing a lung. A guttural noise ripped from his mouth at the pain.

“Bring them in.” Marlena marveled at her hands. The emerald flame Bridger saw before she killed her father swirled in her palm.

Bridger forced himself to a seated position, gasping to fill his one working lung with oxygen. Three doors opened around the room at the same time, all from different directions. Dragged by men in his father’s army were Khort, Arlet, and Vega.

Khort’s face was black and blue, his blond hair coated in blood from the cuts all over his face. With their powers stripped, they wouldn’t heal at a rapid rate.

Arlet didn’t seem to be conscious.

Vega was screaming, flailing against the hold on her, covered in blood and beaten. But fighting. “You rotten witch! Tell me why! Why!” Her screams echoed off the tall ceilings.

The guards threw Khort and Arlet onto the hard floor. Khort was hardly able to catch himself, holding his tattered body up with one arm. The wrist on his opposite arm was bent in the wrong direction. Arlet hit the ground with a thwack. If she wasn’t unconscious before, she was now.

“Shut her up, or I’ll do it for her, Bridger.” Marlena meant it as a threat, but Bridger took it as a command. With everything inside him, broken bones and all, Bridger crawled towards Vega.

The guards were still holding her, but she was fighting with everything she had left.

“Vega…” he choked.

Her name from his lips stopped Vega in her tracks, her attention snapping to Bridger on the floor, battered and broken.

“Bridger,” she gulped, finally aware someone other than her, the guards, and her sister were here. Her eyes fluttered to the others. “Oh my gods, Bridger. What did you do to him?” Anger bubbled behind Vega’s eyes. Marlena motioned for the guards to let her go. Vega tumbled forward, collapsing to the ground beside Bridger. “Are you okay? Look at me.” She grasped his face, pulling him into her as best as she could with her own beaten body.

“I’m okay,” Bridger croaked.

Marlena growled. “Your love has blinded you.”

Marlena had been planning this for years. Years. And none of them saw it coming. She played them like fools, plotting with his own parents and other Curia members behind their backs at night and then meeting them all as friends for breakfast the following morning.

The time for talking was over. Vega could ask why as much as she wanted. It wouldn’t change a thing.

“How could you do this to me? To us?” Vega looked around the room at the friends she and Marlena grew up with. “Just answer me. Give me something.” Vega led with her heart, and Marlena had utterly crushed it.

“You want a reason?” Marlena snapped her head up. She was by Khort, who hadn’t said a word and wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone.

She prowled over to Vega and Bridger, the boots on her feet leaving smudges of blood and mud behind her. Marlena grabbed her sister by the hair. Vega clawed at her, nicking her with one of her nails. Marlena tossed her back to the ground in the middle of the room where everyone could see her.

Bridger felt broken and useless.

Marlena towered over Vega, always taller but now more confident and lethal than she’d ever been. She leaned down to get within inches of her sister’s face. Vega’s wide eyes didn’t show fear, but pain—despair. She’d been betrayed by her own flesh and blood; she had every right to feel agony.

“I did this because someone had to, and the last one they would have expected was me. Perfectly poised, ready-to-lead Marlena. Always-following-the-rules Marlena. Never-biting-back Marlena! Guess what I realized, sister… Why would I settle for just two seats when I could have them all?”

Power.

Marlena wanted more than she was allotted.

Vega choked. “You killed our parents. Slaughtered them with a smile. What happened to you?”

Marlena grabbed her sister’s face. “Maybe I should have been watched a little closer.” She rose, the room’s electricity rattling with her new powers. “Our parents raised a powerful woman. One meant to rule, and yet you’re surprised when I finally do?”

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