A Queen Among Darkness: Chapter Fifty-Seven - Valeria

A Queen Among Darkness: Chapter Fifty-Seven - Valeria
One second I’m standing with Mei, watching my woman slam that cocky bitch into pure marble, the next I’m shielding my eyes as the room suddenly erupts with a familiar bright light, only this time it doesn’t make me feel like someone is melting my eyeballs from their sockets.

I take a peak to see a stream of light rising up from the floor shooting up through the ceiling and engulfing Isolde, and all I can feel is dread and panic coursing through my veins.

“Izzy!” I shout as I start to run towards her, but I quickly feel something pull me back. I look back to see an irshiust with sun-kissed gold glittering skin, and short wavey, copper hair, gently holding me in place by my arm.

“She’s fine,” she says as she stares forward in awe.

“What’s happening to her?!” I shout, my hand inching towards the grenade in my pocket.

“She’s ascending,” she whispers reverently.

I blink in astonishment and turn to look back at Izzy. Slowly she rises into the stream of light, floating in the air like her body is completely weightless. Her hair is flying around her, and the light is so bright it’s turned the hall from day to night. I look around to see every irshiust and the Fort twins, drop to one knee and bow their heads. Looking back at Izzy I watch as an eight pointed as a symbol appears on her forehead like a brand. It looks like an eight pointed sun with rays in each point with a large star in the centre.

“What’s that mark?” I ask nervously, unable to pull my eyes away.

“It’s the mark of the High Priestess,” the irshiust says proudly.

I watch in awe as I feel a warmth spreading over me and moving into my chest as tears fill my eyes. She’s ascending. Centuries of being denied her birth rite, only for it to finally find her. The pride I feel for her right now is on a level I’ve never felt in my life.

“Fretez…” I hear the blue-haired giant whisper as he too drops to his knees. But his reaction is different to the others. Everyone else is watching with reverence in their eyes; he is watching with tears of sadness in his.

I glance back at Izzy as Manon screams in outrage, the sound worse than a howler monkey. She must be running on pure adrenaline because she doesn’t seem to even be aware of her knee as she gets to her feet and starts hurling balls of fire at Izzy, but the stream of light protects her; absorbing every ball, which only enrages Manon further. She limps forward throwing ball after ball like a mad woman, her eyes looking completely deranged as her hair falls loose into a dishevelled mess around her. So this is what happens when your fake persona cracks. It’s a fucking ugly sight.

Slowly Izzy’s feet touch back on the ground, her hair still whipping furiously around her. As the light retreats back into the ground, the familiar glow of her magic bursts from her, moving around her like vibrant purple flames, richer in colour than ever before and framing her like the supreme being she is.

“Is she…”

“A High Priestess? Yes,” smiles the copper-haired woman as she and the others rise to their feet. I stare at Izzy in awe as she stands in the centre of the room glowing like a Goddess. My Goddess. Manon is so fucked.

۩ISOLDE۩

My eyes snap open as I stare down Manon. Indescribable power and energy flows through my veins like the rushing current of a rapid river. I’m worthy. My Goddess’s magic deemed me worthy. For centuries I felt I was a failure. A disappointment to my kind and to my creator, but now as her blessing breathes new life into my magic I feel more connected to everything around me in ways I never imagined. I feel magic around the room singing to me a sweet song I never thought I’d hear. I feel at one with the magic inside me in a way I never thought possible, and it’s this magic that gives me clarity now. I know what I need to do.

“An ascension changes nothing,” Manon spits, hurtling a ball of fire at me.

I effortlessly raise my hand catch the ball of fire, and watch as Manon’s eyes widen in alarm. I turn my hand and examine the ball of fire and smile as I feel its flame tickle my hand. I slowly close my hand and snuff the fire out and focus my attention back on Manon.

“For hundreds of years you’ve killed, you’ve tortured, you’ve betrayed and condemned all those around you,” I say as I slowly step forward. She attempts to conjure another fireball, but I throw my hand out, using my magic to hold her in place. I yank my hand down, yanking her to the floor. “I’ve wished you dead since the moment you took everyone I loved from me.”

“Then kill me. If you’re so powerful, then kill me,” she challenges.

“I have no intention of killing you,” I say calmly as I walk towards her.

She smiles darkly, “Of course not, you don’t have the stomach. A pure being such as you could never take a life,” she sneers.

“You misunderstand me. I’m not killing you because I can’t. I’m not killing because it’s not the right punishment. There’s no justice in your death. I live every day with the pain of everything you took from me,” I say as tears fill my eyes, “These women will live for eternity with the memory of the sister you murdered in cold blood. Families will continue to grieve and mourn. Your death does not erase their pain, it only frees you of consequence. To give you death, would be a gift you don’t deserve. As your High Priestess, I sentence you to the one fate most unbearable for you,” I say with a gravelly voice as I choke back my emotions.

“Is it to listen to you blather?” She says, rolling her eyes, attempting to free herself from my grasp.

“I, Isolde Laurier, High Priestess of the makkari, sentence you to life as a human,” I declare, her eyes widening in terror as she begins to thrash furiously.

“You can’t do that!” She screeches.

I walk over and kneel down placing my hands on the sides of her head, “I’m taking back the magic you stole. I’m taking back the gifts given to you, that you dared to taint.”

I let my magic reach into her and wrap around the flame that burns within her. A flame that feels deformed and unnatural, polluted, and tainted by the magic she has stolen from other beings. I focus on pulling it from her as she screams in agony, and as I do, a stream of purple energy with black tendrils, erupts from between us, shooting up into the glass dome ceiling, into the night sky. Her screams pierce the hall and taper off as the last shreds of her magic shoot into the air and disappear from sight. Her body goes limp on the ground as tears stream from her face.

I rise to my feet and look down at her with pity, “All your life all you cared about was power. It’s the only thing that ever mattered to you, more than your own animai, so I’ve taken it away. I have returned your magic to the cosmos where it belongs. You can spend the rest of your mortal life in a cell, knowing you lost the only thing you cared about, and reflecting on the fact you are mere meters away from your greatest goal, yet you will never be able to reach it. For you, I think that’s a fate worse than death.”

I step back and free her from my magic as she screams in anguish. She struggles to her feet, but her body gives out when she puts weight on her bleeding knee. She looks up at me with fury; her bloodshot eyes dripping tears down her cheeks as she begins crawling toward me dragging with her a pool of her own blood, her eyes focused on me like a wild animal.

“You should have killed me! I will make you pay! I will make you suffer. As long as I draw breath I will see that you never have peace!” She vows.

Ceren and Dilara walk over and lift her by the arms.

“If you think we’re ever letting you out of your cell, you can guess again,” Dilara spits venomously. She looks at me as her expression softens, “I’m sorry,” she says sincerely, her golden eyes looking into mine. I nod and watch as they drag Manon towards the cells.

The moment she’s out of sight I feel my body relax and finally, I feel like I can breathe again. I turn around and can see every irshiust in the room walking towards me, but my eyes are focused on the most important person in the room. Valeria stands only a few feet away and yet those few feet have never felt so distant. Her eyes meet mine and I feel everything fade away. As if in sync, we run to each other, wrapping our arms around each other. I bury my face in her neck and breathe her in. She feels like home, but the electricity from our touch is painfully muted, and I know I am to blame.

“You came for me,” I whisper.

“Of course I did, I told you I will always have your back,” she says, squeezing me tighter. I take a deep breath and squeeze her in return, but sadly she pulls back out of my hold. Her eyes harden and she punches me harshly right in the arm.

“OW!” I exclaim, grabbing my arm.

“If you ever reject me again I will personally kick your voluptuous ass, do you understand me? That shit fucking hurts! Don’t you ever decide what I should or shouldn’t feel,” she says scathingly as gasps resound around the room.

My face falls with guilt, “I deserved that. I’m sorry, doing that was the worst and most painful thing I’ve ever done, I just… I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you too. I couldn’t,” I say as tears fill my eyes.

“I know,” she says, taking my face in her hands, “But we’re a packaged deal. That’s what soulmates are, right? So you’re stupid to think life is worth living without you. Where you go, I go. Get it through your head.”

I nod fiercely, “You have my word, never again.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she says, pulling my face to hers and capturing my lips in a fierce kiss that reaches down to the tips of my toes. I pull her back into my arms and return her kiss, relishing the sensation of her lips on mine. Her lips feel cracked and swollen making me think about the stress and pain she’s gone through today. I deepen our kiss, caressing her lips with my own, just grateful to feel them once again.