Chapter 2
I crossed my arms as I stood, and the girls looked me up and down, tipping their noses at my stained uniform before turning to each other and snickering.
“Bekha. Jordaan.” I nodded, looking up to the sky. Could the Esprithe just strike me down now?
“Fia Riftborne… what a lovely surprise. How long has it been? Six, seven years? That pathetic white hair is still hard to miss,” Jordaan smirked. “And your skin… I see you never did learn what a few hours in the sun could do,” she chided before looking over to Bekha.
“And those same creepy eyes.” The short brunette curled her lips into a smirk. “Or better yet, those hideous dark circles. You really haven’t changed at all.”
“Such a shame. You could have been quite pretty. Parts of you have potential… but no amount of pigment could fix the ghastliness,” Jordaan continued, ice slicking her voice.
“We really should catch up sometime. I’m sure mother would absolutely love to hear all about your time away from us.” Bekha’s eyes traveled down to my clothes once again. “Are you living on the streets now?”
“Are we done here?” I asked as they fell silent. I knew I should have held my tongue, but I often had trouble doing so.
Bekha glared at me.
“What are you anyway?” she asked, her voice thick with vitriol.
Original.
I rolled my eyes and brushed past them.
I needed to get out of here.
“Disgusting Riftborne. You were always so rude. So ungrateful. You’re lucky our mother had a kind heart and took pity on you. If it were up to me, all of you would have burned with the rest of your treacherous country,” Jordaan spat.
I paused, clenching my teeth.
Just keep walking.
I mentally repeated the words, desperate to distract myself from the mind-shattering surge running through my head like a blade. Pain shot across the base of my skull.
I sucked in a breath, making my way back into the night with shaky, unsteady steps—towards the dancing lights that now seemed undoubtedly safer than the faux solitude of the forest.
Bekha cleared her throat.
“Dams are just so unpredictable… I heard about what happened to your little Riftborne pack. Absolutely devastating. Perhaps if they could swim faster…”
I stopped. There it was.
Their words hit me like a dagger, finding its mark right in my center.
My jaw began to tremble, and another jolt of white-hot pain invaded my mind, lighting my thoughts on fire and sending currents through my entire body. Starved currents. Lethal currents.
No! Don’t do this here! The better part of my brain was roaring.
But then I heard their laughter.. .
My muscles went rigid, and the world around me blurred, tinging my vision with a translucent haze. A scream threatened to tear through me as I fought to keep control, but I could already feel myself losing the battle.
It was happening. And I couldn’t stop it.
Once it got to this point, I never could.
The last vestiges of my control snapped like a frayed rope. The unrelenting curse surged to the surface, flooding my veins with an intense and unstoppable fury. I spun to face the girls as the ground trembled beneath me, the air crackling with energy.
As if I reacted outside my own realm of authority, I thrust my hands forward, unleashing a searing torrent of force. The blast tore through the air, finding the girls in an instant.
They stumbled back, looking at each other in horror and confusion. I could do nothing but watch as they opened their mouths to scream, but no sound escaped. Realization washed over them in silent horror as the vortex of energy stole their voices.
Time seemed to slow as a haunting radiance began to pulse from their eyes, hot and blinding like an exploding celestial body.
How delicious it was to feel the power break the confines of my skin. To be rid of it, even for a fleeting moment. I hated myself for the pleasure that radiated through me. My eyes bore into the sight of the girls, unable to tear my vision from the gruesome scene unfolding ahead.
Wisps of spectral energy curled around strands of their hair and gowns. Crimson tar began to flow from their noses as though their minds were being strangled by an invisible grip.
They fell to the ground. The energy continued to weave patterns around their unconscious forms before slowly releasing itself into the ether.
I stood frozen. The last pulses of energy resonated around me like heat emanating from hot pavement. The world held its breath.
Slowly, the aura lessened, and I felt the weight of my actions crash down upon me. The trance broke.
Were they dead?
I stumbled over to their lifeless forms and my knees hit the ground, damp grass embracing my fall. Please. Please don’t be dead.
But I couldn’t bring myself to check. To touch them. I could tell from the overwhelming stillness that they weren’t breathing. If they were dead…
A wave of nausea swept over me, threatening to expel the entirety of my dinner. The silence of the forest was screaming, as if nature itself recoiled from me. Tears welled in my eyes.
I dug my fingers into the dirt. How could I allow myself to lose control like this? I should have kept walking. Fuck, I should have kept walking.
Tears streamed down my face, blurring out the world around me as regret crept into my blood and bones. One thought permeated.
Run.
My legs ached as they found their balance, and I stood, trembling. I took a shaky step towards the tree line just as a twig snapped from behind me.
I spun to find a pair of familiar, hauntingly emerald eyes nearly pulsing in the darkness. The wind whipped, sending his copper hair flying. His form was backlit by the moon, lending an ethereal quality to that devastating face. The one now completely fixated on me.
My heartbeat pummeled against my chest.
General Laryk Ashford.
He stood there, twisting a dagger through his fingers with expert precision as an enigmatic smile played at the corner of his lips. He must have seen everything.
Esprithe save me.
Panic rushed over my body as I grappled with the consequences that would surely be waiting for me once he escorted me back to the party and informed the crowd of what I had done.
They would kill me without hesitation. A perfect crescendo to the evening: the death of a Riftborne. I was as good as dust.
His eyes bore into me, but his expression was strange…
His eyes gleamed with something familiar but wildly inappropriate for the occasion. It couldn’t be…
Was that amusement?
He cocked his chin to the side, his gaze lingering on my left hand, bare and visible in the moonlight.
An eternity passed.
Is he going to kill me right here and now?
He was a Sídhe General, he could enact justice however he wanted. My friends had been murdered for taking a simple swim.
I had attacked two daughters of nobility.
And their bodies laid motionless behind me. Blood stained their perfectly painted cheeks, creating a thick puddle in the tangles of their hair.
I winced.
He returned his dagger to its sheath and gave me one last curious look before turning on his heel and walking back towards the bustling celebration over the hill.
Shock enveloped me.
What just happened?
I still couldn’t breathe.
I watched him for a moment before my mind stopped spinning–long enough for my self-preservation to kick in. And my feet started moving again.
I disappeared into the shadows of the forest, plagued by a sinking feeling that my encounter with the General was only the beginning of a reckoning I could not escape.