Several days had passed since their new queen took the throne. Max was fully healed, with both eyes back. His voice took the longest, his stubborn nature kept wanting to fight through it and talk anyway.
Her body had healed, but the power was a different story. It growled inside her like a cornered beast, restless and wild. The more she tried to leash it, the more it fought back.
If she was angry, the walls would creak under the strain. If she was turned on, or if Max teased her enough, his clothes would be ripped off without her touching him. Though convenient, her lack of control worried her. She was, in fact, the only holder of Tempestum who hadn’t become mad or evil. She would fight until her last breath to keep it that way.
Charred streaks marred the castle walls. Even now, the ghost of smoke mixed with the sour stench of blood and rot.
The guards in black and dark red armor, their eyes as cold as the steel they bore, parted silently as Sin approached. The serpent emblem on their chests glinted in the dim light, a warning as much as a symbol.
Every step closer felt like stepping deeper into an abyss, her heartbeat loud in the suffocating quiet. She once again was walking towards a ruler, who would play a part in her future. Sin only hoped the queen wouldn’t be so vicious towards her.
Sin wouldn’t pretend to understand what it meant to claim a throne, but hope was a dangerous feeling to her. And if the queen rejected her request, Sin didn’t know how she would react, or if she would even listen.
Queen Ecithys rose from her throne with deliberate grace. Her fingers brushed the carved serpent sigil, the one Sin placed after removing the king’s sigil of the sun. She smiled at Sin fleetingly. Sin wasn’t offended. In fact, she was surprised she could muster that. It was a good thing Sin wasn’t in her shoes, for she didn’t know if she could, or would want, to fight the dark magic within her.
“You’ve come to see me.”
Sin approached the dais. Queen Ecithys descended, her gaze locked on Sin’s, each movement as fluid and deadly as the serpentine queen she was.
The floor groaned beneath Sin’s feet—a groan that seemed to echo her internal unease—and she sighed, frustration tightening her chest.
Ecithys raised her brow in question.
“I’m—having trouble keeping it under control.”
It was a struggle for Sin to admit she couldn’t do something. But now that she had a future, she wouldn’t stifle it with her pride.
Ecithys nodded. “I regret to admit that I know very little about Tempest Magic.” The queen paused, looking over Sin’s face—her scars and runes now on display for everyone to see. “I’ve come to understand your life hasn’t been an easy one.”
“You could say that.” Sin kept the emotions out of her voice, it being second nature to her.
The queen grasped her hands together in front of her. “How would you like to work for me directly? In the castle?” Sin narrowed her eyes at the queen’s words. “This life will be fraught with trials, and it will demand more than you can imagine. Butit will be yours to choose—every battle, every victory, every scar. You will be free.”
The words seemed to catch in her throat, but Sin forced them out. “That is an unrefusable offer.” She tried to steady her breathing, feeling the weight of the choice settling into her chest.
“And yet?”
“And yet,” Sin braced herself. “This power… I can’t let it control me, and I know I won’t find the answer here. I need time—time to conquer it before it turns me into something I won’t recognize.”
The queen blinked, her eyes narrowing as curiosity flickered across her face. “What exactly are you asking?”
Sin clenched her fists until her nails dug painfully into her palms, the sharp sting grounding her. She met the queen’s gaze head-on, refusing to waver. “I need to leave,” she said, her voice steady despite the chaos roiling inside. “I have to figure out who I am, how to control this before it consumes me.”
“And what of Max?” The queen’s voice was level, giving nothing away. Sin’s chest tightened painfully, the words sinking into her like a slow blade.
“Max means everything to me, but my magic is unpredictable. Until I can tame it, staying with him is a risk I can’t afford. Protecting him means I have to walk away, at least for now.”
Max’s smile flashed in her mind—bright, boyish, the way it softened every jagged edge inside her. She could feel the phantom warmth of his hand over hers, the roughness of his calluses against her skin. The thought of that warmth turning to cold lifelessness because of her magic made her stomach twist painfully. She could almost see the light leaving his eyes if she lost control, and that fear rooted her to this decision—no matter how much it tore her apart.
Sin knew the queen could see Sin’s barely restrained tears, but she held strong. The queen nodded, stepping closer. “Sin… is that your true name?”
Sin’s spine straightened. “The name I was born with died along with the girl who bore it,” Sin said, her eyes unwavering. “Sin is who I became—who I had to become to survive. Every scar, every battle is woven into that name, and it belongs to no one but me.”
The queen exhaled audibly. “I grant you leave, however long it takes, and trust you will return.”
“I will,” Sin promised as she bowed, then turned to leave.
She was at the door when the queen called out, “Oh, and Sin?”
