Page 18 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

Why don’t you bite?she asks it.

Why don’tyoubite, Blair Alaric? You are a witch, after all,it seems to whisper right back.

Blair stares at the warping shadows.Is that real?No. You can’t talk to magic. But then, dryads and nymphs do that all the time, don’t they? When they ask the world for rain or a good harvest.

So she asks, What do you want me to do?

Silence greets her.She closes her eyes, and Abyss, just then, the magic whispers again. Over and over and over.Take me. Claim me. Wield me.

I can’t. You’re not mine.

I am no one’s anymore. But we both want the same. Vengeance.

I’m not strong enough,Blair argues, but all the magic chants is, Free me. Unleash me.

I can’t. I’m just a witch…Blair contradicts.

Just a witch… just a witch.The magic cuts her off with another chant, sung by a thousand different voices and none at all. Soundless. She knows only she can hear it.Just a witch. Just a teeny-tiny witch.Mocking.

If you don’t have anything useful to say, fuck off,she shoots back, and with a last, grounding breath, opens her eyes again and draws them back to Perenilla. She knows what she has to do.

Her mind slides to a calm and cold place. Her voice is bright and clear as the first snow as she says, “I won’t apologize for what we did for you.I made a mistake, and I hereby accept my punishment. But my aunt’s actions are not my hereditary sin nor that of the red witches.”

The crowd starts to scream, hissing and snarling and cheering, those primal sounds vying with each other.

“Well, then stare down the execution, Blair,” Perenilla cuts through all of them.

Blair braces herself for the pain, for the magic to rip into her.

But a scream to her right sends her reeling. Sofya is on her knees, the tornado of dark magic swirling around her. Her mother’s breathtaking face is torn in pure agony. “No. Stop this!”

“I said you need to yield and apologize or there will be an execution. You demanded the execution, Blair,” Perenilla responds, her voice like ice.

“No! Please.” Blair falls to her knees, but Sofya keeps screaming and screaming and screaming as the magic starts to slowly tear her apart.

“No! Stop it! Stop it!” Blair’s screams cut through the turmoil, through that hateful, deadly tornado around her mother. She’s no longer saying the words to anyone. She justneedsthis to stop.

She mashes her eyes shut like she did when her car collided with the water. “Stop it! I do anything. Anything, but stop it!”

Suddenly, Sofya’s quiet. Utterly quiet. So are the rest of them.

No. I can’t.Blair can’t look and see Sofya’s torn body. Can never look at Aurora’s shattered heart.

She will kill Perenilla. She’s going to kill her for this. She’s going to stop all of it! A fiery determination smothers every other thought or instinct in her, filling her up.

But when she opens her eyes, Sofya is still in one piece. Her bright eyes are huge, but her face is bereft of pain. The magic has paused, swirling but softer, as if suspended in the air. Hovering. Waiting.

Blair glances at Aurora, who’s wearing the same expression. Shock. Horror. Then at Perenilla, who has a strange look of frustration on her face. Her pale forehead is glistening with sweat, her whole body trembling as if she’stryingto crush Sofya, but…the magic won’t obey.It is fighting her…

“I hereby pardon you, Sofya Merrygold. In the name of what you witches did during the years of darkness, what you did for all of us, I pardon you,” Perenilla says, lowering her arms eventually. The magic is gone in an instant. “Now, bring Blair Alaric to the dungeons. She might want to spend some time down there and think about what she’s done and how terribly she failed.”

Perenilla turns on her heels and strides away, not once looking back as the robed witches grab Blair. She’s hauled to her feet, still stumbling from the blood loss, leaving a gory trail all the way past the reservoir, down and down into the very black heart of the tower.

5

Melody

Two days. They leave me in the bunker for two solid days.

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