Page 99 of Scalebound

“Isn’t that odd? How was she the only one who died of the plague? The king told me how they both died, and I believed it. I went along with it, knowing I would pay him back someday. That he would know exactly how it was to watch those that you love die by disease.”

My brows knit together in anger. “Why now? You’ve had years. What made you start this now?”

She scoffed. “The Sardanian King sent me a note requesting to speak with me. During one of my trips, I went that way, wondering what he had to say. After seeing his intentions, and knowing my history, I shared my plans with him and he said if I were successful that he would wed me to his son, making me queen of the Sardan Kingdom. After years of plotting, anyway, it was the push I needed”

I thought about what Tobias said at the dinner with all of the knights, and how he wanted to go to war with the Sardan Kingdom. They already started war. It made sense, the Deathlies never crossed the border of the Forbidden Forest into their lands.

“Everyone else in the castle? What did you do to them?” I raised an eyebrow, observing Tobias as he silently passed the knife's hilt to Myre. In that moment, I felt a surge of respect for him. He understood the kill belonged to my father, not him.

“A sleeping potion. No one to walk around and question what was happening. Everyone else who didn’t take it is staying in their chambers. Because no one wants to get the plague,” she said like the monster she was.

Sleeping potions? How had she learned to brew them? The realization struck me, and my mind raced back to the missing book in my room.

“You stole my books on potions? That was you?” I said, fury rising in my throat. “You must’ve been the one to steal the map as well.” Everything started to make sense. “But why?”

“Oh, that’s not the only thing I used your little potion book for. A sweet addition to the book also helped me to poison your mother. I needed a little leverage on your father. He wanted to host games to find a ruler, but I begged him to make me the ruler. He wouldn’t budge. He knew that Tobias would marry you and protect you, and he didn’t want to risk you being the face of everything. He knew that you would have the kingdom, but stillremain safe.” I could feel my eyes glisten with tears. My father cared about me. It was never about not wanting me to be a part of the kingdom because of who and what I was, but it was about protecting me.

“Your father had then sent Nana Claudia a note by raven, letting her know what I was capable of and that I had poisoned Queen Dyla. However, your lovely past lover, Tobias, had intercepted the raven. This, unfortunately, got him involved. He had already known about the egg and came to confront me about the note, accidentally spilling the information about the golden egg.

“Silly Aurelia, they were making plans to find the egg not for the wish it granted, but to open up the dragon gates and to end the extinction of dragons. They wanted to make dragons more prominent in the lands to make it so that you could show yourself. Tobias and your father were doing that all for you, and you had no idea.”

“But the map? Where did you get it?” I demanded.

“When Tobias had told me about your map, I had gone through your tower and Nana’s belongings to find it. I knew that one of you would have to have not only the map but more information on magic from the Old Religion.

“I had already been plotting the Deathlies, but the map was the perfect touch to my plan. I would create the Deathlies to distract the kingdom while I looked for the dragon relic to grant me my wish. But wedding the Sardanian King’s son was my back-up plan. Which worked out when you left to search for the egg, leaving me time to take care of everything else here. It was only right for what happened to my parents. My father deserved to be king, and my rightful place was to be the heir to this throne.

“However, people got in the way.” She looked over at Tobias. Tobias and my parents still had their hands behind their backs,not showing they had been released. My father was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“Tobias, you stole the map back from Cora? For me?” I questioned, realizing that was why he had it that night. Cora was using me to find the map for her. She knew I was the only one he would be vulnerable with. Tobias swallowed hard, his eyes shifting to Cora as he nodded in silent agreement. Tobias had always been on my side, and I had no idea.

“Pity that you didn’t know that he actually cared for you. He was always looking out for you, blah, blah, blah.” I couldn’t believe it. I saw him as evil this entire time. I blamed him for all of this. “I just wanted everyone to know what it was like to watch their loved ones shrivel up with death and disease. The Deathlies are the best pets, ya know. They will listen to my every command.”

Thinking back to the night of the masquerade ball, I thought of the girl that entered the castle. I remembered her sickly face as she laid on the ground, begging for help. Someone had to let her into the castle. Nana mentioned there being tunnels and other hidden entrances below. It had to be someone that knew the tunnels and hidden passageways that I never had the luxury of learning. Someone that grew up in the castle. Someone that was able to sneak her in to make everyone fear what the Deathlies were capable of.

It was Cora all along.

“And the knights,” I said, remembering the knights sent looking for me by Evler. “You sent them?”

“I had to know where you were at,” she said smugly.

My gaze flickered from my parents to Cora. How could she have been powerful enough to do this? I watched as my father stood up, about to stab Cora through with the knife. But I wanted the kill on my hands.

I remembered themaxz1 that was gifted to me. There was a reason that I was meant to have the lunar abilities. I knew that I was always dark on the inside, ready to kill. It just brought it out in me even more.

My fear didn’t fuel the weapon I was.

I was the weapon.

Flushing the conflictions of my emotions to the side, I twisted Cora’s own shadows between my starry-nailed fingers and drifted them up to where her neck was. Her caramelized skin shone brightly from the light of the moon drifting in through the window, but that wouldn’t last for long.

I wrapped her own shadow around her neck, digging deeper into her skin, blocking off her ability to breathe or to scream. Her face whitened to the shiny color of bone; her mouth fell open in utter horror, awaiting her next breath that she wouldn’t receive.

For a split second, I wondered if I would’ve been able to do this before I left my tower and met Damian and the Scalebound.

No. I wouldn’t have.

For a fleeting moment, I grappled with the realization that my abilities were hurting my best friend–killing my best friend.

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