Chapter 107 Chapter 107
Chapter 107 Chapter 107
However, the light that came from the slightly ajar door was almost pitch black. Only when I smelled the familiar stench of death did I finally put the pieces together.
The portal was from the underworld.
I ran the short distance to my sister’s office, thinking the worst-case scenario. How did the Grim ones open a portal into the castle? How did they bypass our wards this time? And why were they coming for my sister?
I was seconds away from busting the door down and unleashing my flames when the tail end of the conversation stopped me dead in my tracks.
“The order is not very confident in your abilities anymore.”
“I won’t fail you again,” Daisyg said.
“You better not. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Who was she talking to?
“It will be done.”
“This is your last chance. If you fail, we will have no choice but to intervene. Your sister cannot become queen.”
A cold shiver invaded my bones, and the world around me turned black.
If what I just heard is correct, then that means.
I pushed open the door right when the portal shimmered off, and Daisy turned around abruptly.
“Who was that?” My voice was too weak, too shaky.
“Who was what?” She asked, a dumbfounded look on her face. The face of the sister I knew my entire life, the princess I looked up to, the person I loved so much.
The fake smile she had on dropped when she noticed I wasn’t playing along.
“I was hoping we would do this somewhere else, somewhere quiet.”
“Like a dark ally in the middle of the night?”
She was not amused.
“It was nothing personal, Ahri.” She walked back behind her office and pulled a drawer open.
“Oddly enough, that doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“You’re too powerful, too out of control. You saw what you did to the throne room, what you did back at the academy. Poor Gianna.”
“You made me do that.” I seethed.
“You’re a danger to yourself and to our people. We cannot let the past repeat itself.”
“Who is ‘we’?” I took a step forward. “Who were you talking to?”
Out of the drawer, she pulled out a long dagger adorned with a bright red ruby and marked with the sigils of black magic.
My heart sank at the sight of the weapon that started it all, and with it glistening under the lights of the office, I could no longer deny what was obvious.
My sister was the traitor.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Let me spare you the pleas and the questions, my dear sister. My orders are clear: You cannot be the leader of the four kingdoms because your powers are like a powder keg waiting to ignite.”
“Once it does, you will bring about death and destruction the likes of which haven’t been witnessed in centuries. As I said, it’s nothing personal, but like the saying goes, ‘better safe than sorry’. I had to protect my identity the first time in case something like this happened, and unfortunately, our cousin was an easy target.”
“So, what, you charmed her into doing your dirty work for you?”
She stepped away from the desk, dagger in hand.
“Of course not. Gianna was –sorry to say- completely innocent in all of this. All I had to do was imitate her handwriting for the note and the journal, and distract her with a cute boy while I used a glamour spell to ‘borrow her face’ for the night.”
Without warning, she opened her palm and threw a ball of fire towards me.
“Is that really all you got?” I said as I dodged the attack.
“No, but that was enough to distract you.”
In a split second, she leapt off her desk and charged towards me, dagger aimed at my heart. For an insignificantly short period of time, I froze as I watched her advance, my body and mind on different wavelengths.
Was my sister really trying to kill me?
The blade that was inches away from my heart was a harsh yes.
I pushed my hands forward and slapped the dagger out of her hands, simultaneously twisting her wrist away from me. The dagger flew out of her grasp and skidded under the glass table on the far end of the office.
“What?” I let out as I hooked my foot behind her knee and pushed forward, “You can’t beat me with magic, so you brought a knife instead?”
“Don’t get too cocky, Ahri. The dagger is simply for show.” She dropped to the floor face-first. I stepped away as she reached for my ankle in an attempt to take me down with her.
“We just have to make it look like the Grim Ones found a way to take you out after all.” She sprinted back up.
“How clever.” I raised my index and middle finger in a swirl-like gesture, and soon enough, all the air left her lungs, and she was left choking.
“Unfortunately for you, I’m not going down easy this time around.”
“What?” She coughed the words out as she gasped for breath. “Are you going to kill me like you killed Gianna?”
For a second, I faltered.
A second was all she needed.
“That’s who you are, Ahri.” She stood back up and with a flick of her wrist she summoned a branch off of her office plant and with it snatched the dagger back into her grasp.
“You’re a killer.”