“Did you ever stop to think?” She pauses long enough for my arm to begin to ache. “Maybe Everett wasn’t as skilled a fighter as you imagined him to be?” The sick joy in her voice bleeds through her next words, which are my final blow. “Maybe Everett deserved to die.”
Clatter!The bow drops to the ground. I shove her back into the stone. Instead of grunting in pain, she grins. I raise my hand and press the arrow into her neck; the dark black stone I used to make the arrow’s tip makes her skin look more luminous and tan.
The slight tremble my fingers had at the start of the evening is nothing compared to the earthquake-sized movements my hand now possesses.
Her smile spreads from ear to ear, but her eyes relax. The pulse in her neck pushes against the arrow’s tip.
I want to pierce it, to slice the vein that supplies her brain with blood. I want to end her, just like she has tried to kill me.
So many times she has tried. It’s a wonder either of us is still alive.
I never wanted it to be this way. She’s my twin. Once, I did love her. However, things shifted at the age of five when she attempted to drown me. I knew then, even as a child, that Sable’s magic controlled her. That fact motivated me to train my magic. It would never best me. I ruled it, not vice versa.
I tried a few more times to help her, but you can only pet a biting dog so many times before it gets lucky and delivers a deadly blow.
This is where we stand, always at odds, how we will forever be.
Like everything else in my life, I hate it, but I accept it. That’s how I was taught to survive. Accept and move on.
However, I refuse to accept what Galen has done.
“That won’t kill me,” she purrs as if being on the verge of death seduces her. I want to shove knives in my ears. It’s not enough that we look alike; no, we sound the same, too! She’s my worst enemy, speaking my fears back in my own voice! “You’d have to plunge it into my heart.”
“You don’t have one,” I hiss.
“True,” she giggles. She leans into the stone wall as if it is a plush mattress. “But how poetic to die the same way our brother did. Pierced through the heart.”
“One day you will die, and it will be alone. You won’t beg. Your pride is strong, but deep down, fear will arise without a comforting hand to hold. Your fingers will grasp nothing but raw, deserted air, Sable. Because that’s what your soul is. Frigid and barren.” I lean closer, nose to nose with the version of myself that is truly the definition of evil. “You reap what you sow.”
I push my feet back with force until my back hits the stone opposite her. This arrow is meant for one person, and it is not Sable.
“That is why I am spreading so many seeds, sister. You’d be wise to do the same. When the harvest time comes, you will be the one who is petrified.”
I look at her feet, too sickened to meet her eyes again. Sable’s always scheming and plotting something.
“I’m happy Everett is dead. He was always meddling in my business. He tried to stop me; he did for years. Now, I can’t be stopped,” she gloats. Her chest inhales wide like a dragon that finally landed on the pile of ashes it created.
“I’m free. My only regret is that I did not end Everett myself. I did enjoy all the attempts, though. Killing isn’t the fun part; it’s the plotting. The actual attack is just the blink of an eye. When the victim shoves out their last breath, it’s always such a letdown. Then I have to start over again, choose a different target. It’s like creating those needlepoints they forced us to do as children. Again and again. Select a design, make it, finalize the details, finish it, then start again.”
She leans against the wall with relaxed ease. “You should see my next design, Selene; it will outshine everything in this world. Everything.”
“A shine is just a reflection,” I retort. “A reflection is a trick of angles and light. It makes something small appear grandiose. It’s momentary, every light must dull, Sable; yours already is.”
Do you like my wicked smile? You taught me how to make it.
I tip my chin up and add, “Oops, you just showed your temper. Put your mask on quickly. The beast inside you is too grotesque to be seen in court.”
Her lips snarl back, showing off her white teeth. “You’re a bitch!”
I shake out my arm, relaxing it so I can make the shot. “I could respond likewise, but I’d rather not share anything in common with you.”
“You will fall one day, Selene.”
I flick my hair back over my shoulder. “Tell me something I don’t know. Fae have long lives, but eventually,” I look at her, “everything dies, Sable.”
“It’showthey die.” She rolls her shoulders back. “I have a feeling you will die with such heartache and agony, it will be unimaginable.”
“That means I loved, and if I loved, then someone loved me. Someone will mourn for me. Who will mourn your death,Sable?” I tilt my head back, gazing down at her with disdain. “I know who will rejoice. It’s how they die, right?”
