Page 126 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

When I turned, Jesper was trying to sneak away. I didn’t know which one I wanted to kill first, him or my father. Guards surrounded them, but I only had to take a few steps toward them before most of them broke and ran. I stopped and glared at the guards that I trained. I didn’t want to kill them.

“If you all walk away, I won’t kill you. I just want Luren and Jesper.” A few more of the guards ran, but some stayed, looking unsure. “You will not stop me from getting them, and you will lose your lives for nothing. You know my father does not care about any of you, but I do. I don’t want to hurt you, but Iwillbe killing Luren and Jesper, so step aside or die with them.”

Most of them left.

About a dozen stood standing between me and my targets.

“You made your choice,” I frowned as I summoned their blood marks. “You will all step aside and watch me slaughter Jesper and Luren.” They all obeyed in formation. My father’s eyes glanced around before looking at me. “Being a blood witch has its perks. Blood manipulation is so fun to use. In fact, I blood-marked you too.”

My father stilled.

“You brought me a lovely gift.” I pulled my bloodstone out and showed him. “Thanks.”

My father didn’t move, but Jesper turned and tried to run.

I used Cassius’ shadows to move across the field directly in front of Jesper. He skidded to a stop and looked at me, horrified.

“Where are you going?” I asked. He turned and started toward the arena, but I moved through Cassius’ shadows again, once more ending up right in front of him. This time, my darkness wrapped around his throat and slammed him into the ground, making it quake. Then it wrapped him up and dragged him along the ground behind me as I went toward my father. Luren continued to just stare at me without trying to run away.

He had accepted his fate.

I left Jesper tangled in my darkness on the ground as I stepped toward my father. The guards who refused to stop protecting Luren and Jesper would have to die. They chose their side, and it wasn’t me. My darkness crept from me and snapped the necks of each guard. The sound of bones breaking made my father finally try to move.

“Luren, you will stay!” I demanded, and his feet planted to their spot because of the blood mark. His eyes that matched my own widened as he realized he was not in control of himself. I sent my darkness after him. It grabbed his wrists and ankles, lifting him a foot off the ground. Hedidn’t try to fight, but fuck, his fear was pumping from him. I stopped a few feet away and glared at him.

“You are a disgusting excuse of a man, and I will spend the rest of my life scrubbing your very existence from this realm.”

My father breathed heavily.

“You should have never underestimated me. You should have never kept me from Cassius.”

“You’re a traitorous whore just like your mother!”

The insult only made my blood witch markings glow with anger as my red eyes locked on him. I stepped closer to him.

“Do you want to know a secret?” I asked. He said nothing. “My mother is standing next to you.”

His eyes widened as his chest rose and fell quickly.

“She didn’t go to the next life just so she could watch you die. You took all the elite magic fae from me and killed them. You took Sybil and my brothers from me. So, for that, I will make this painful. And because you killed my mother, I will draw this out. When this is all over, I want you to know that your fae will realize how terrible you were when they see how great of a king Cassius will be.”

“Fuck you!” he yelled. I stepped forward and pried his mouth open. Raising my dagger slowly, I waved it in front of his eyes, watching them widen in fear. Keeping my eyeslocked onto his, I shoved my blade in his mouth and cut his tongue out.

“Much better now that I don’t have to listen to you,” I sighed. I threw his severed tongue at Jesper, hitting him in the face. He thrashed around in disgust as Luren’s cries filled the silent air. The crowd of fae barely moved, probably worried I would slaughter them if they did. I gripped my viper-handled dagger and stabbed it into his thigh, making him cry out. I used my darkness to pry his eyes open so he couldn’t look away.

“First, I will crumble your home.” I summoned my fire, but my other magic mixed with it, creating a comet-like ball of angry power. The bloodstone pulsed violently as I drew upon its energy to expand the ball before I threw it toward the castle. The size of the ball of magic cast shadows over the fae watching as they all looked at the sky as if they were watching a shooting star. Every pair of eyes watched as the ball of magic soared over them and hit the side of my father’s castle. The towers crumbled to the ground as screams of terror rang from the rubble. My magic ripped the castle apart in mere seconds, its stone and bricks exploding around us. My barrier magic swarmed around all of us as debris fell from the skies and my father’s legacy crumbled. He was trying to close his eyes, but he would see everything. An angry cloud of smoke billowed up intothe sky, overtaking the sun completely and making it seem as though it were about to storm.

“I will stab you for each fae in Exile that you slaughtered,” I spoke as I slowly pressed my blade into his thigh.

My father cried, and I was just getting started. Just as I was about to start my stabbing, I looked over his shoulder at everyone watching. This would take too long. Sighing in disappointment, I knew I needed to not draw this out.

“Actually, I think we will do it this way,” I said as I lifted my hand to summon my darkness. It transformed into dozens of sharp points before I urged it forward, cutting into my father’s body without resistance. He screamed at the pain, but it wasn’t enough. I pulled my darkness back when he started bleeding too much.

“Well, this won’t work.” I tisked and brought forth my fire magic and burned his wounds shut before doing it again and again. More screams of agony filled the space around us. I could feel death coming for him. But that was too kind of a punishment.

“This is for my mother. For Cassius. For Sybil. For Kaz. For Kai,” I spoke angrily. “This is for Crimson!”

I held up my hands and squeezed my darkness around his wrists and ankles tighter before slowly pulling them in different directions. Luren’s screams were deafening as his body was slowly torn apart. Limb by limb, my darknessripped them from his body. I made sure it was slow, and only when I knew he was about to die did I pull so violently that my father’s body fell into pieces at my feet.

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