“Nothing?” I laughed derisively. “What do you call this little act of defiance then?” I looked out at the humans herded together, wide, terrified eyes watching as I decided their fates. They were so confident until the repercussions of their actions caught up to them.
The man dared to raise his eyes and glare at me, snapping back, “What you have coming.”
My head reared back as I blinked in shock. He would actually dare—I fumed at his defiance, wishing scornfully that I had the power to release breaths of flame to incinerate him where he stood. I reached out and grabbed him by the neck, snarling in his face, “Just for that, every single one of you will die.Terribly. As painfully as I can make it.”
The man struggled to speak through my hold on his throat, and I loosened my fingers a bit to hear his response. “They now see you…” He struggled to get his words out. “For what… you are. We will… not… be the… last.”
His words seemingly emboldened the other humans, as they began yelling and fighting to get free of my soldiers. I glared as I looked over the melee before me. They had no chance, and yet they were willing to fight and die fornothing.
I was completely mystified as to why they would waste their time. They lost their family members every Placement Day and always handed them over with no issue. They’d never fought back before. Not like this.
I growled, letting my hands rest on either side of this miserable human’s head. With a quick move, I snapped his neck, and his dead body slumped to the ground. The other humans paused for a moment, looking at me with shock and horror.
“Bleed him dry,” I instructed my soldiers, and they nodded in confirmation.
The other humans renewed their fight, but it was over quickly. Once subdued, I had my men take them to the closest camp to make themselves useful. Seeing them off, I let my wings unfurl and flew back to the palace.
I needed to wash the smell of unwashed human filth off of me.
* * *
“You need to be more careful.”My mother glared as she watched me turn ordinary human blood into precious blood magic. The ancient words turning the sacrifice into something much more sacred than what it began as.
“The humans were easily put down.” I countered, rolling my eyes at her caution. Humans were no threat to us. A few rebellions quickly done away with would mean nothing in the long run.
“Your father is getting suspicious of you, Cyrus. You cannot put plans of this scale in place without being found out!” she argued, pacing the room I had set aside for my work. It was deep within the bowels of the palace, where no one ever ventured. Meaning my father and siblings would never stumble upon it.
“I’m not worried about Father.” I scoffed at her.
“You should be, " she insisted, her black eyes watching me with concern. She shook her head in exasperation before she tossed her wavy wine-red hair over her shoulder and stormed out of the room.
I shook my own head at her departure. She wanted me to remain heir, but wasn’t willing to follow through on the tasks that had to occur for me to maintain my position. With the power I was taking for myself, my siblings would have no recourse against me. Even my father would be forced to admit who was the superior amongst us.
And Asteria… well, she wouldn’t allude me for long.
Aelius might want her dead, but I wouldn’t let that happen. Once I had everything in place, I would do away with Aelius and take Asteria as my concubine.
Had she not gone against me, she could have been Queen of Celesterra. Instead, she would be forced to watch Zerlina take the crown from her place at my feet.
I smiled at the very thought.
Calix, on the other hand, I had more elaborate plans for. Maybe I could find a way to separate Fae and dragon. Keep him chained like an animal to burn my enemies at my command. Or maybe I’d keep him mounted to the wall, making Asteria stare at his bleeding and broken body.
So many options!
Lightning crackled around my hands, but it quickly fizzled out. I glared down at the increasingly common occurrence.
“Fucking gods,” I snarled. My magic fading on me was unfortunately becoming a more common occurrence the more chaos took over. Like the lack of balance was leeching the world of every drop of its magic, prepared to leave a bland grey wasteland in its wake.
But that was what blood magic was for.
I finished bottling this batch and quickly downed a vial, signing in relief at the feel of my magic sparking alive within me once more. The thought of living a life without magic was unacceptable. We wereowedour powers, The very idea that they could be taken away was preposterous.
I made my way through the palace, thinking through the next stage of my plan. All of my spies were hard at work helping to bring different phases of the plan to fruition, all while monitoring my siblings and their own plots.
Speaking of my siblings, I walked into my solar to find Daneiris sitting and talking with Zerlina. The two quieted as I shut the door, and I paused as I took them in. They sat at a small wooden table by one of the large windows that helped light up the dark space, a tea service set out before them.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, eyeing them both as I made my way across the room. My sister smiled up at me innocently, while Zerlina just rolled her eyes, snarking, “Tea, obviously.”
