33. Chapter 33 #2
“I told you, I am fine!” I gritted my teeth, blocking her downward swing.
“You call Fernwick fine?” She slid to the side, missing my sword by inches.
“You have a lot on your plate. You don’t need to be worried—”
“I’m already worried!” Ora stopped moving and dropped her sword arm. “I see that you’re hiding something. I see that something within you is taking a toll. Whatever is happening is making you more on edge. First with Beralt, then at Fernwick.”
“What happened at Fernwick?” Paige called out.
“Nothing!” Ora and I called out together, not taking our eyes off one another.
“I’m not asking for us to hurt Peiro. I see the way you two look at one another…but what if—”
I raised my sword and pointed it in her direction. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”
She tilted her head at me, inspecting me like I was a lowly specimen before widening her eyes. “I wasn’t—that’s not—”
She doesn’t want you to have your toys, just like when you were younger. How many times did she throw a fit when you received a new doll at Yule Time and she was unhappy with hers? This is no different.
“You will not take him from me just because it doesn’t fit your plan. You just want me to remain in your shadow.”
Ora tsked. “I never wanted to shine as brightly as you think I do, not even to create so much as a shadow. But go ahead and continue living in the lie you created in your head.” She smiled like a fiend then set a sharp gust of air toward me to knock me back a step.
Something snaked around my heart and pulled hard, fortifying my resolve and causing me to snarl.
Our blades suddenly became mundane and we cast them aside.
I flexed my fingers, ready to spar with elemental magic.
Ora grunted as a surge of fire left her fingertips, aimed for my head, but she became counterbalanced by my Wateras Wielding.
A wave of water extinguished the heat and flame, sending droplets to the side and splashing our feet.
Ora tilted her head and narrowed her eyes “Cute.” Before she could move, I sent vines bursting through the dirt to wrap around her wrist and yank her to the ground while more vines simultaneously wrapped around her legs.
“Really?” she yelled as she used her free hand to pull away the vines.
I smiled at the thought that I finally bested my sister when all of a sudden, another punch of wind hit my chest with such force that I stumbled back and fell onto my backside.
My hands became scratched as I tried to catch myself on the pebbles.
Ora stood proudly while her hands worked Earthen magic to make the vines recede.
“Adorable.” I mimicked her tone and climbed back to my feet before I charged her again, sending an array of magic toward her.
Orbs of fire and shards of ice bounced off the golden shield she’d cast around her. She reciprocated my efforts with her own, forcing me to duck to the ground as she sent a billowing wave of fire and dirt toward me. My teal shield covered me just in time, but I could still feel the heat.
Muffled cries were heard in the distance but I didn’t care to look. Someone called for Ora, begging her to relent. I should have been surprised by how much force she threw into her magic, but this was becoming more than a simple sparring session.
This was a release of something deeper, and we were one another’s targets. Old wounds that needed to be settled.
I fought to catch my breath. “I will not give up what you’re telling me to,” I sneered.
“If you would just listen to what I’m telling you, but no”—another blast of Firus licked at my boots—“you’re not the only one who has to sacrifice something in this war, sister.
” Ora picked up her sword from the ground and moved with lightning speed.
“Do you think I like this theory?” I grabbed mine to block her strike.
“This idea?” Another swipe. “Do you think I like being in this position that we’re in? ”
Distracted by her words, I left my form open. Ora shifted in closely and jabbed her elbow into my nose. The pain radiated and my eyes stung, tears welling and spilling without my command. Blood tickled my skin as it steadily dripped.
I rolled my shoulders and cracked the joints in my neck with a satisfying pop.
I threw the metal sword to the ground again.
This was no longer a session for blades.
Like a snake releasing from a tightly wound coil, my Wielding pooled into my hand.
The shortsword took form, fueled by the moons and cosmos, and glowed brightly with its teal hue.
I looked at Ora, her breathing labored as she stared me down.
The air around us charged and crackled. Ora pulled her golden ribbons of Sun Wielding that shone brightly as they formed the shape of a whip. Well, that was new. Her magic must be changing like mine. She smiled at me as if I were the mouse and she were the cat.
“Oh shit,” I heard Sury say somewhere in the distance.
“Ladies! Stop this at once!” Fyom’s deep rumble vibrated my senses, but we paid him no mind.
“Do you think I find joy in any of this? These theories? A fucking prophecy?” Ora lashed her whip, the flick landing beside me and sending electricity into the air.
“Do you think Mother taught me how to rule and how to manage a damn coup that would happen immediately after her death? Or do you think Father finished teaching me the art of war in addition to the coming battles they hid from us?”
She cocked her head to the side, the glow of her Wielding intensifying. “Do you think I want any one of us to sacrifice anything? DO YOU THINK I WANT ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN?”
Her anger was heavy, but I only smirked. “Which is precisely why I haven’t bothered you with my Wielding, sister. You have too much—”
“No.” Ora whipped again, my Wielding sword blocked it.
A sizzle rang in the air the moment her celestial magic met mine.
“Don’t ‘sister’ me. It’s because you’re running from it.
Running from the responsibility bestowed on you!
You’ve pitied yourself too long, Ophelia.
” Ora ran at me again in full force, tripping over my stuck-out foot and landing hard on the ground, scraping her face in the process.
She looked up at me and jumped to her feet, throwing another lash in my direction, the very end nicking my thigh and drawing blood.
“You sulked around the castle for too long, never fully appreciating the gift you do have: not having to carry the burden of ruling a kingdom! I told you the day of their funeral, I do not want this! As you’ve kept to yourself, I’ve had to sacrifice so much!
” Ora panted as her golden whips pulled at her feet.
I tightened my grip on my sword, my Wielding vibrating in my palm. “I have not sulked—”
“I’ve had to sacrifice a normal life from the moment they realized I could do this.
” In a great flash, Ora displayed her Celestial Wielding’s strength by shooting a whip of magic from her palm.
I fortified my shield around me with more Wielding right as the golden ribbon split into smaller pieces and flew toward me like bolts, trying to embed themselves into the barrier before sizzling away.
“I’ve had to sacrifice the life I wanted with Sury!
” Another bolt was thrown and sizzled like the pouring of acid.
“My heart was controlled by a damn court, and everything has to be approved by them. Not me, them! You have always been free to do what you want, but you squander it by burying your head in your world.” Four more bolts were thrown in rapid-fire succession.
“Not giving a shit about what’s around you! ”
“But isn’t the court dead?” I laughed. “You’re getting your happy ending at the cost of mine. Everything at the cost of what. Is. Mine.”
Energy pulled at my feet as I shifted. My vision was giving over to the gray.
The rocks beneath began to grow dull of their color, and the rattling of twigs next to me shook against the force of our magic. I glanced to see a shrub that was once green with blooming flowers was now brown and void of any life.
Their sacrifice intensified my magic.
My illicitus responded in kind, ready to take its aim and release. To take more life.
“Ophelia!” Peiro barked “Stop this!” He was closer to me now, but I ignored his plea.
Hear how she’s trying to manipulate you? Her sob story about how her power has kept her in chains. She’s an idiot like the rest of them…
Maybe she has a point, I weakly whispered back to the ink. My chains were hidden, but hers have been in plain sight. Perhaps power is just another form of chains?
FOOLISH GIRL! You mock me? After all I’ve given you?
A surge of energy shot down my spine, stiffening every muscle in its wake, forcing my back to straighten unnaturally.
A drowning pressure built inside of my chest, like someone was kicking me from within.
An irregular wind began to form around us and turned wild, leaves littering the ground before us in droves.
Ora’s eyes glowed brighter as she reformed her magic into more whips and darts that crackled against the air.
My shield disintegrated. The magic reabsorbed back into my skin, allowing me to regrip my Wielding sword. My illicitus practically hissed at my blatant disregard to call on it.
Ora charged toward me.
I shifted my feet, ready to attack with all of my force and fury and swung with all of my weight in her direction.
Ora lifted her shield just in time for my teal-hued sword to clash but bounce off with an excruciating force.
We heard cries from the onlookers. In the corner of my eye, bright golds and silvers sparked and crackled around us.