Page 21 of A Rising Hope

I could see Death approaching me between all those bodies. Her slender silhouette lurked in the shadows, waiting for my heart to sound its final beat.

A part of me was disappointed.

Not because I was dying and never getting the chance to live my happily ever after with the one I loved the most.

But because I was dying for nothing.

For a girl who had imagined the end of her life so many times, this was quite the disappointing outcome. A part of me should’ve known this fate was waiting for me all along.

I could still feel Death’s icy touch on my shoulder from my dream. Lost between the fog and light, her colorless lips calling my name in my vision only a few days back, and now she was here, ready to embrace me.

The Queen continued talking, but I didn’t fucking care about a word that left her mouth.

I had always hoped to at least die proud, with my head held high.

But now I laid drowning in my own blood, bile and piss, convulsing from the torture of torn limbs, and the blinding anguish of Basalt Glass shards clawing through my veins.

Powerless, broken, and a bit scared.

That was the most disappointing part.

I was scared.

Scared of what was awaiting me. Scared for the people left behind.

A small tear rolled down my cheek. Or maybe it was blood.

The last breath of air reached the top of my nose.

Yes, I was scared.

Terrified.

But perhaps courage wasn’t the lack of fear. Perhaps it was action in spite of it.

So, with whatever strength I managed to muster, I looked at the Queen, piercing her with my unyielding stare as I snarled my last words.

“I’ll see you in hell, bitch.”

Then darkness embraced me at last.

13

INSANARIA

“They always miss the best parts of my speeches,” I murmured to my shadows, kicking over the dead girl’s cooling body. Her piss tainted the precious mixed magic blood that puddled on my floor, but that was a minor inconvenience. No, what was truly important was that for the first time inyears, the air no longer was bitter, the sun felt warm against my skin.

I feltalive.

My powers surged too, aware of my jubilant victory, of the triumphant future now only a breath away.

All. These. Years. And now I had the missing piece to the puzzle.

Nothing else mattered.

I gestured with my hand, and all the bodies dropped from the ceiling to the ground in one loud wave. I made my way across the room to the otherworldly throne where thorns were rapidly weaving together. A few more touches of my magic, and a thin stream of blood siphoned from Finn’s body, reached the ceremonial goblet in my hand.

I scratched my chin, a bit annoyed at the sluggishness of the process. The red drops filled the cup one by one, but I needed it faster. I rested my elbows on the armrests of the black throne.

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