Chapter 37
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
TESNI
No! No, this cannot be happening. I can’t...lose. I can’t fall to my sister. She was the weaker one, she was the one to be thrown away. I was the one raised up and feared and revered throughout the empire. I am the queen of five kingdoms!
And yet, she’s stronger than me. I feel it, the moment I’ve lost. That small voice inside myself, the last bit of light, sighs—in relief. Happy for it to be over. Happy to not be a prisoner inside this darkness any longer.
But Thea is reaching the Brink now. I see it, can almost feel it as if it's happening to me. I guess some of the strange connection between us as twins remains, even after all this time, after all the hurt and betrayal.
She screams as a cold so deep that it burns explodes from her, extinguishing my fires, nearly freezing me completely, but I hold onto the knowledge that she’s gone.
She’s used every bit of strength she has left and if I can just hold on for a few more seconds, I’ll have won.
Yes. Yes, I deserve to win. I deserve everything! !
So I hold on, digging deep inside of myself, gripping my own Gift and the ones that I’ve taken and hold steadfast, refusing to give up. A tiny flame flickers inside my chest, remaining alight against the cold, but it’s enough.
Thea drops to her knees, the Brink destroying her body from the inside out, the power overtaking her.
Blood pours from her nose and she bows her head, her body sagging as it gives its last. The cold recedes and I take a few ragged, gasping breaths.
I was nearly gone. But I was stronger, just like I’ve always known that I was.
I look to my sister, the blood dripping to the dark stone of the ramparts.
The tiny voice that I thought was gone forever, silenced by the impenetrable darkness that overtook everything when I’d orchestrated the deaths of Barony and the others, manages to claw its way through.
It recoils at what I’ve done, feels such much pain at the loss of my sister that my heart actually splinters.
You were supposed to love her. You were supposed to protect her, it hisses, accusing and full of grief.
But it can only stay afloat for so long, swallowed up again all too quickly by the darkness that’s dancing with glee. I’ve won. I smile in triumph, taking a staggering step forward towards my sister’s body.
Searing pain explodes through my chest, hot and angry and burning.
I look down to see a sword through my heart.
A sword of ice.