Sin
Her world spun, noises coming in and out—fragments of tense voices echoing as if in a deep cave.
A masculine voice—Gideon’s, she realized with relief—swore, and then footsteps pounded towards her. Relief, over.
She tried to move, but her healing limbs felt like lead. Were these people really supposed to be her allies?
“Stop,” an assertive, older, feminine voice cut through the chaos.
“You don’t understand,” Gideon’s voice sounded as he neared. Sin barely had the strength to lift her trembling hand in defense.
“I understand that if you lay a hand on her, you’ll be getting a beating from me.” She stepped forward menacingly, her eyes narrowing into a glare. “Now back off.”
Angy, lighter footsteps neared her quickly. Sin fought the pain of the brightness as she opened her eyes, splashes of color blurring in her vision—shapes shifting into focus. A distorted silhouette loomed above her, slowly sharpening as Sin blinked.
The world around her blurred, and for a split second, her vision tunneled on the face above her. Those eyes—Max’s eyes. The resemblance was uncanny, cruel even.
Sin fought back tears, inhaling deeply as they took each other in.
The woman snorted. “By the recognition and longing on your face, which of my sons are you in love with?” The queen’s tone was sharp, almost mocking, and Sin felt a rush of heat rise to her cheeks.
“Maximus,” Sin breathed.
“Sin,” Gideon said warily. “This is my mother, Queen Ecythis.”
Sin swallowed hard as she struggled to curtsy, never having been taught how. “It’s an honor to meet you, Your Grace.”
The queen nodded. “Why are you here, and why were you acting like a feral animal before?”
Sin gave the others a withering look, newly furious over what they had done. Jocelyn had practically been hiding behind Gideon’s shadow. Sin put together she must not have been out for long, then.
“We’ve come to take you back,” Gideon said, straightening up as if steeling himself, his eyes briefly flicking towards the queen for confirmation.
“The raven has flown, and your people are answering the call they’ve waited years for.
Maximus ensured it. By this time tomorrow, the kingdom will be yours, awaiting its rightful ruler. ”
Each sentence had the Queen’s jaw drop further and further. She shook off her stupor. " well unless one of you can break me out of here the point is moot.”
Jocelyn swallowed hard before she spoke, her eyes downcast. “We may have a solution for that.”
for the first time since Sin had been awake. Queen Ecythis stared down at Jocelyn hard. “I remember you,” she said.
Sin could see Jocelyn visibly trembling beneath the Queen’s gaze.
“You helped lock me in this place.”
“I did,” Jocelyn answered immediately.
“You’re the one who clung behind Audrira as you sneered at me.”
Jocelyn forced herself to meet the queen’s stare. “I’m not the same person I was, that’s why I’m here to fix this,” she said.
“You know, I’ve eaten people for less.”
Sin’s eyes widened as she remembered where Max got his abilities from.
“Fix this. And I’ll make sure you keep the place at court, but betray me, and I won’t hesitate to relish breaking every one of your bones.”
Jocelyn shivered as she nodded.
One day, Sin would need the story on how they managed to accomplish caging such a woman.
Jocelyn and Gideon both looked to say, expectation clear on their faces. Confusion etched on the queen’s.
Sin sighed. “Where is the barrier?”
“Outside,” Jocelyn said.
“Then let’s get going.”
The queen gave Sin a look she recognized immediately that sweet unsure look Max kept hidden behind the mask.
“He is suffering,” Sin said, her voice raw. “The king keeps him chained in a cell—cold, dark, and reeking of death. I can numb the pain, but not forever. He will die there unless I get to him first.
The Queen just stared at her in awe.
“We don’t have time, Your Highness. We need to leave.”
The hesitancy in her eyes made Sin want to scream.
“Your son is suffering—a suffering that worsens with every second we waste. Or have you chosen to ignore that?”
“Watch your tone,” Gideon warned.
“No!” Sin’s voice broke, raw with fury. “You dragged me here for this queen who couldn’t wait, while my mate suffers alone!”
The mother’s eyes widened. “Mate?”
She nodded. “And I won’t waste another minute on you all. Let’s go.” She whirled around, searching for the exit, and then paused.
They watched her with mirth as she faced them again. “Show me the exit now, please.”
The queen’s eyes met Gideon’s, a flicker of exasperation passing between them, before her gaze returned to Sin—cold and calculating. “Yes. We move now. But not dressed like that.”
“I’ve worn worse,” Sin muttered, glancing down.
“You’ll need protection.” The queen snapped her fingers, and the rags shifted—dark leathers, scaled reinforcements glinting under the torchlight. “We cannot afford any weaknesses.”
The three of them followed the queen and her dark brown warrior braid down her leathers, until we reached the furthest she could go. She reaches her hand out towards it—
“Dont!” Sin shouted, brought on by a glimmer of magic that shone like droplets of blood. Hostile and malefic.
Sin approached the queen’s right, who watched her as she held out her hands and rolled up her sleeves.
Ecythis gasped at the rune revealed on Sin’s wrist. “Does the king know?” she asked, not needing an explanation apparently.
“No,” Jocelyn answered. “We ensured he wouldn’t.”
Sin frowned. “That’s why you really sealed my magic?”
Jocelyn nodded grimly.
“Huh,” Sin said, not having to ponder on it long. She was grateful to her since she would’ve been dead otherwise, no doubt. She may have wanted that at one point, when her dreams and life seemed a pointless endeavor.
That was no longer.
As she held out her hands, trying to get a feel for the barrier they needed her to break—
“Halestorm,” Jocelyn said, reminding Sin of the script magically tattooed on her skin. “Settle the weight of what lingers. Balance what has been borrowed. Destroy.”
Horripilation scattered across her skin, the feeling of premonition consuming her as she met Jocelyn’s stare.
She nodded as she started over. “Halestorm.”
Sin faced the barrier once again and repeated, “Halestorm.”
The sweet voice returned to her mind, humming a tune she recognized but couldn’t place.
“Settle the weight of what lingers.”
The barrier strained, pulsing with power as Sin repeated the words.
“Balance what has been borrowed.”
A croaking sound echoed through the plains.
“Destroy.”
The sound of the barrier erupting travelled through the cliffs, echoed by the fading sound of the sweet song.
Sin swallowed as an idea formed in her mind who that voice could belong to, then shook the thought away for another time, if she even lived through this.
“Let’s go,” Ecythis ordered, reaching her hands out until they all formed a circle.
Mushrooms sprouted at their feet in response to the channel.
Power pulsed through Sin.
“You’re the only one here with High Fae blood. We need to use your essence to teleport and get there faster,” the queen told her.
Sin should’ve been horrified at the thought of her blood being used gain, but all she saw was Max’s face, felt the memory of his pain before she turned off the physical portion of it.
Sin nodded. The queen muttered under her breath. Not Vhaevari, but a completely unrecognizable language to Sin. Perhaps from her land.
Reality shimmered, twisted—the world bending in on itself until it shattered around them. For a heartbeat, there was nothing, just the void, and then they were standing just outside the Asera capital. The fortress loomed ahead, silent and imposing.
The landscape was eerily still. Mist curled along the ground. The stone walls of the castle seemed to blend into the night sky. Torches flickered, their light casting long, dancing shadows that seemed to move with a life of their own.
Sin could feel a sentience in the castle walls, screaming with rage, and wondered if it was the king himself.
Sin led the way, having the most invaluable power there for battle. The queen was behind her, and Gideon behind her with his sword ready to be drawn as soon as they made it in.
Sin froze in her tracks. She felt it… before she heard it. The echoing sounds of hissing… towards the coast.
A woman with white hair and tentacles hovered over the water, waved a three-pointed spear, laughed, and then sank into the water.
Whatever this woman did, revealed where that hissing was coming from.
They weren’t a mile from the west gate, where Sin focused her hearing and could track several anticipated heartbeats.
“There’s at least fifty of them waiting,” the queen whispered.
“They’re waiting for my return, I think,” Gideon answered.
The noises towards the coast became louder.
“Stars,” the queen breathed.
Sin looked towards the smiling queen and prince, she and Jocelyn both frowning in question.
“It’s the army,” the queen answered her unspoken question. “Just watch, Sin. No one enters the castle yet,” the queen ordered.
Sin? Max’s voice was a ghost, distant and pained, echoing in her mind.
Her vision tunneled, focusing solely on the castle ahead. Nothing else mattered—each step was a heartbeat, every breath a promise to reach him. No one, not even a queen, would stand in her way.
I’m coming. The words were both a promise and a desperate plea before she started to run.
“I said, wait.” The queen’s voice was cold steel, her grip on Sin’s leathers unyielding as iron.
Sin tried to yank herself free, and stopped cold in her tracks at the sight before them.
Thousands of snakes slithered into the gates, scales rasping against the stone, moving like a dark, undulating tide. The hissing filled the air, drowning out every other sound—a living wave of death.
Thus began the screams—high-pitched, panicked wails that echoed off the stone walls. The clashing of swords rang out like a brutal symphony.
“It’s the army of my home,” the queen whispered to her in awe. “Let them clear the way for us first, and we’ll follow in through the west gate.”
Sin nodded, floored by the sights and sounds of an army of shifter snakes taking over the kingdom.
Max, she called to him.
Yes, my love?
They’re here.