Page 2 of Kill the Queens

Betrayal.

That was what she felt. It stained her soul and consumed her until her last breath. That hurt more than the knife and her aching lungs.

Then she felt nothing.

Her body was free from pain, light and...and airborne. Was she floating? Flying? No, no Ace didn't have a body at all.

That glowing warm bright light engulfed her. It soothed the pain and worry she'd felt moments ago. Ace could recognize herself, she understood without a doubt that she was indeed dead.

It didn't bother her though. Not as the light seeped into her soul bringing with it a new understanding of peace. It was quiet here. Ace's spirit wasfree.

That's it?a voice said, feminine but thick with an unrecognized accent.

That's not it. There is a plan,a man snapped back.

Whose plan? Who was talking?The questions came and went in Ace's conscious being as she settled into the comfort of no longer caring.

More voices piled onto other voices until it was a roaring chorus of angry arguments. Words she couldn't quite make out. It was all around her and it was loud but Ace's spiritrested.Time was passing, as it always does, leaving Ace unbound from her earthly pain. Those voices came and went. She remained aware of them but paid them no mind. It could have been seconds or it could have been days before the voices changed.

Make them pay. Make them pay. Make them pay.A chant began like a low hum until it took over the back and forth.

A voice whispered, small and gentle.It's not yet your time. You have work to do my little dove.

Mom?Ace perked up as she listened. Had that been her mother's voice?

Ace didn't know how she knew because she had no physical form but hands wrapped around her. Thousands of needing, pulling hands. Their grip tightened and the white gave way to orange and pink splashes.

You must go back.

You must fix the balance.

You. Must. Live.

Voices echoed back in the never-ending vastness that surrounded her. Her spirit lurched; those spidery hands letting her go.

Live? Ace didn't want to live. Living was hard. Living was scary. Living is what ended in dying, and hadn’t Ace already done that?

Living wasbetrayal.

She tried to turn back to the voices. She tried to speak. Could she even speak? Heat started at the pads of her feet, licking at her toes. Toes...she had toes! Orange rose up around her as she blinked away the white and took sight of herself in that damn tattered old dress.

Pain came next. Fire licked up her calves, searing the ends of her skirts and working its way up to her hips. It stung as an invisible force pushed her further into the flames.

A scream built from her gut and tore out of her throat. Her back arched into heat, her hair melting to her skin.

She didn't want to live. She didn't want this pain.She didn’t ask for this.

Ace reached out for something to take hold of, for something to keep her from what was now consuming her. Her palms swiped through the orange and pink strands of fire. They absorbed into her skin as she tried again and again.

It was all around her now. Burning at her eyelashes. Smoke choking down her throat. Fire crawling over her skin, leaving no inch untouched by its scorching kiss.

Orange and pink faded to gray and then to black and there was nothing left for Ace to grab. She could feel the weight of her body now. More than that she could feel how utterly raw her skin was. How raw her soul was. Every part of her was throbbing and pulsing.

Heat radiated off of her. She didn't move, couldn't move, but she knew without a doubt that if she laid a hand against her skin she'd feel like she'd taken on a terrible fever.

You will do the work of the gods now, someone said.Open your eyes.

Ace lay still. Somewhere water was running; it trickled quietly. Blades of grass poked at Ace's bare arms, a jarring sensation against her sensitive skin. Wet material clung to her frame. Light was shining through her eyelids, making everything red in the darkness she wanted to shrink back into.

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