43 || Family Re
The word rung hollow in the necromancer's mind, echoing as it jolted from one thought to the next.
Brother.
Silas would never use it as an endearing term, especially not to King Mortas, which meant he had to be related to him. The two men were brothers. Silas was her uncle.
"Indeed it has," the king replied with a sigh.
"After all these years — the ignorance, the banishment, all because I wanted to help you — you now seek the information you were scared of." His laugh and slow clap rattled Morana's bones. "What a turn of events."
"Times have changed. Back then, you broke the law of meddling in the matters of necromancers and unburying the past we kept sealed for the island's safety.
You dragged my wife into your games.
Banishing you to the Lost Abyss was the only option I had.
" Mortas's teeth gritted together as he spoke.
"I was helping Oleress find a way to break the curse at her request. She was terrified when she found out she was pregnant with twins." Silas idly spun a ring around his finger. "It says a lot that she couldn't trust you with it, and I see why."
The world spun in eddying circles around the assassin.
Silas had the Necromancer's Tome with their mother's notes because they were working on it together.
He claimed the book for himself when she died – when Morana had killed her.
If it weren't for the hand fiercely squeezing hers — blue-tipped nails digging into her skin to give her strength, she wasn't sure what she would have done.
"Enough of this. I invited you here to ask you for information about the curse, not shed light on what happened in the past."
"Isn't this all about the past?" Her boss countered, shaking his head in dismay. "Ask all you want."
King Mortas retrieved a decanter and two glasses from a side table and poured them each a drink of bourbon, the amber liquid filling only a quarter of the speckled glass. "Well, you already know what I'm after. How do we break the curse?"
"The best question first." Silas swirled the alcohol before sipping it, as if thinking over the answer.
Morana already knew he was well aware that he was thinking of other schemes instead.
"I've known the answer to this a long while now, so did Oleress before she passed.
We studied the Necromancer's Tome together and found it on one of the back pages — added right before the curse was made and the last necromancers were killed all those centuries ago. "
With brows furrowed into an angry, knowing line, the king looked up at his brother. "What do you want in return?"
"Nothing too difficult, I assure you. Ilyana — summon her here and I will tell you everything you wish to know."
Her twin's grip became tight enough to draw blood.
Morana knew he was up to something, but what was it exactly?
He was aware he couldn't be the one to kill her sister, the curse wouldn't break that way.
It had to be her. That was why he was so obsessed with commanding her to take her life. So what did he want with her?
Ilyana met her eyes in question, but the necromancer had no response to give her.
"My daughter is not being dragged into this." Mortas's whitened knuckles could have shattered the glass in his hand.
"What about your other daughter? You seem to have forgotten about her." Silas arched a brow. "Fetch me the princess and I'll tell you how to break the curse. In fact, I'll even break the curse for you. How does that sound?"
"You heard me before, brother, my child does not get brought into this." While Mortas fizzed with rage that bubbled under his skin, Silas was a still pool with not even a drop of water to mar the pristine surface.
He downed his drink, debating his next words carefully. "Do you know what happened to Morana after you killed her? After you tossed her body into the Molten Sea to never think about her again?"
"After she killed her own mother?"
Morana froze, her throat constricting and her heart pounding against her ribs.
"Her kill was a forlorn accident. Yours was a purposeful murder. There's a difference," Silas pointed out.
"Indulge me then."
"After I escaped the prison of the Lost Abyss you banished me to after helping your family, I found her — alive — and helped her become the person she was meant to be. Strong. Wilful. Powerful. She'll do well ruling this kingdom.
The assassin's stomach churned. Had he really been using her the whole time? For the ten years that she had grown up in his care?
"She's a necromancer, the creatures that brought this curse upon us in the first place.
The creatures that you were studying which earned you your banishment.
You turned her into a monster who has killed hundreds of people.
" The king flexed his fingers to stop them from becoming tightly wound fists.
"I didn't need to do anything," he scoffed, picking up the decanter to pour himself more bourbon.
"After what she had been through, her own father killing her, I only helped her back onto her feet.
" Silas downed all of the liquid in one go.
"Who would have thought you would betray your family again and banish them? "
"I do what is necessary to protect us."
"To protect you."
"Name a different price, Silas. You will not have Ilyana."
"I'll give you some information on the house, a gift for everything you've done.
" Her boss debated pouring himself more bourbon before deciding against it, placing his glass down.
"The curse does more than claim every life on the island, aside from those with royal blood.
Once it has enough kills to fuel it, it will find a way to end the bloodline that betrayed the necromancer queens too.
There won't be anything left to survive. "
Not even they were safe from the curse like they originally thought. It had stolen so many souls already, so it could only be a matter of time before it caught up to them too.
King Mortas paled. "And how many kills does it need to make?"
Silas only shrugged. "It didn't specify." He stood and stretched. "If you aren't willing to pay the price, I'll be on my way. Though, what is it worth betraying yet another member of your family?"
"I will not give up Ilyana," he ground out.
"Suit yourself then." He grabbed his cane and headed for the door.
Before he reached it, he twisted the handle to extend the metal — a silver sheen peeking through the gold.
"That reminds me, there's one other thing I need to do while I'm here.
" Silas pulled the top off further to reveal a thin, needle-like sword.
The bejewelled hilt made it appear to look like a pirate's cutlass.
"It's time I finally paid back the misery you put me through. "
The king stumbled backwards, his chair tipping to the floor. "Guards!" he yelled, yet nobody arrived. Backed into a corner, there was nowhere for him to retreat.
"No!" Ilyana cried as she pushed against Morana, clawing at the painting to break through. "You can have me!" she yelled. "Don't hurt him!"
Both men turned to the painting. Mortas shook even more while Silas's grin grew tenfold.
"It seems it's my lucky day."
Even with her sister revealing their location, her boss didn't back down. Swinging his sword at his brother, the king blocked it with his arm. The blade shredded the fabric and left a trail of blood in its wake.
"Vivi, do you have a weapon or something sharp to break through?" Ilyana asked. Her eyes frantically tore between her father and her.
Morana blinked, unravelling from her shocked stupor. "Yes. Yes, I do." She reached into her pouch and pulled out a bone shard. Scraping it across the back of the painting in a cross, she formed the perfect opening for them to get through.
The princess pushed through the broken material and tumbled to the ground, dragging her twin with her. They looked up in time to watch Silas thrust his sword against Mortas. Both of the king's hands were held against the blade, swathed in blood to defend himself. Yet it wasn't working.
With one final shove, the sword pushed over his hands a slit King Mortas's throat.
Silas Axelas stepped back to admire his work, a spray of blood covering his face and coating him in his victory.
A sound so visceral and haunting that could only be described as a scream left Ilyana's lips as she rushed over to her father.
She scooped him into her arms and her necklace began to glow, Morana's reacting too in turn.
It sealed the wound on his throat, but it couldn't put an end to the thick, crimson liquid he choked on.
"Ilyana," he managed between a cough that brought up a pelt of blood, bringing his hand to her cheek. "Don't let him... hurt you."
The princess pressed her forehead to his as his touch fell away. She held him up as she sobbed, his life fading away beneath her.
This was meant to be a death that Morana was going to have. From the day she learned how to control her necromantic powers, she had vowed to take out the so-called father who had killed her. Who had given her the title of cursed.
And Silas had snatched it from her.
"What a lovely family reunion this has been.
" Silas took his brother's abandoned drink and raised it in a toast. "It's time, Mor.
All these years of planning have finally paid off.
" He extended his sword to her, goop dripping from the steel.
"It's time for you to kill your sister. Break the curse and we'll be free to rule Wyrith the way it was meant to be all along.
"No more banishments. No more tyranny over the people this kingdom cannot seek to control." He stepped closer and placed the blade in her hand. "Take it and finish the task you were born to do."
"Vivi?" Her sister looked up, tears streaming down her face.
"Never. My feud is done, you killed Mortas." Morana grabbed a handful of bone shards and let them float in the air. "You used me. This whole time, I thought you cared about me. But you just wanted me to assist your power-hungry greed. That's all."
"Of course I care about you, Mor. I wouldn't have taken you in if I didn't. I wouldn't have given you a home, raised you to be the powerful weapon you are now. You would have rotted on the shore of the Molten Sea."
The necromancer's teeth grated against each other. "I am more than a weapon."
Her bones soared and sank into the king's body, making Ilyana yelp and shuffle away from him — one in each of his greying limbs. Pushing every inch of the power that Morana could muster into his body, he stood on shaking legs, his dead eyes of fury landing on his killer.
"Mor, call him off," Silas commanded. An order which went unheard.
Morana only moved around to block the exit to the room, beckoning Mortas over to corner his brother, just like he had done to him. With blood trickling from her nose, she handed the king the sword and nodded. Waving her fingers, he lunged towards Silas.
The assassin deemed it poetic for his final moments. Silas had spent his life planning to kill his brother in revenge for being banished and he succeeded. Now, he was going to die to his hands because of it.
"Morana!" Her boss made one last futile attempt to get her to stop, but it was no use.
The door burst open behind her and guards flooded through. They shoved into the necromancer and tackled her to the ground, knocking her guiding hand off its path. King Mortas still managed to stab his brother, but it wasn't in the heart where she had intended it to be.
The dead king crumpled to the ground as Morana was kneed in the ribs.
"Get off of me!" she growled. Her hands were clamped behind her back and she couldn't get them free no matter how much she tried.
She needed to finish the job. She couldn't let him walk free again, not after everything he had done.
After she landed a swift kick to one guard's groin to loosen the hold they had on her, she attempted to wiggle free. However, he was quickly replaced by another to keep her in place. It was as if the whole squadron of soldiers were waiting outside to assist.
Space between the armoured bodies surrounding her cleared, letting her see Silas slide to the floor, the sword protruding from his abdomen. Colour drained from his face, but he was still alive. For now.
Morana wanted nothing more than to pounce forward and drive the blade in even further.
"Morana The Cursed, you are under arrest by order of the crown," a guard announced.
A scream was all that left the necromancer's lips and an explosion of bone shards erupted from her pouch.
Each one found a home in the chaos, thriving from the blood and death that bathed the room.
Several guards stumbled backwards, allowing Morana to crawl towards her target, but more shoved through the doorway to pin her back down.
"Disarm her and take her to the dungeons!"
She fought one last time to get a final glimpse at Silas, only to see her sister crouching beside the king. Magic flared in her hands, making her fingertips glow, as if she thought she could still heal him.
Ilyana only glanced at her with fear before she was dragged away.