CHAPTER FORTY SIX
Ailsa
VALERIUS PUT HIS hands in his pockets as though this was just a normal evening. “Tell you what, since you’ve been so well behaved this evening… I’ll let her live if you can pick her out.”
My stomach dropped.
It was an impossible task and he knew it.
They all looked like Claire.
For all I knew, she wasn’t even up there but my heart told me she was and that it was all my fault.
“You pick one, and that one gets to live. How about that?”
I buried a scream.
Bile threatened to rise.
A tear shed, falling heavily down my cheek as I looked up at the lifeless silhouettes wrapped in silk above me.
Feeling so fucking helpless, so fucking weak, so fucking useless.
‘A curse’, that’s what our mother had always muttered about me and the words had always stung, but I'd never felt them to be true until this moment.
I was a curse. A curse on anyone who knew me.
How was I supposed to make this impossible choice?
“Pick!” he roared, his facade gone. “Or they all die.”
My eyes flew from body to body but it was no use, there were zero identifiable features to be seen, heard or even scented. I was blind.
So I did the only thing I could do and guessed. I pointed a shaky finger toward the figure closest to me. Hoping and praying to a God I’d never believed in to be right.
The air around us was still and deadly silent. No one dared to speak or move as I waited for what felt like an eternity.
Until finally, Valerius smirked.
“Wrong,” he said with a dark humour that made me sick to my stomach.
I shook my head side to side, unable to speak, unable to move.
Then the reality hit me, I’d chosen wrong.
Wrong.
A sob escaped me and my trembling hand flew over my mouth.
“Can’t say I'm surprised though. You don’t seem very good at recognising siblings,” he laughed.
“Not only am I your real flesh and blood—your brother. We once shared a womb, you and I.” He let the words sink in, take root before continuing. “I’m a little hurt you didn’t notice our bond,” he said, feigning heartbreak with a hand over his heart.
My breaths came in short sharp inhales through my nose as I fought the rising bile in my throat. My entire body trembled and I swallowed hard.
He couldn’t be.
No. No, no, no.
Claire was the only family I had. She was all that mattered.
“I know, I know,” he began. “It doesn’t seem possible, but you see, our dear treacherous mother hid that there was more than one babe, she got you out with the aid of witches and their forbidden dark magic.
She sent you here, to this magicless realm so you would be hidden.
You see, I figured it all out because there was always a piece of me missing.
I knew someone had stolen power from me.
My suspicions were confirmed from the horse's mouth itself, right before I killed her for it. You took what was meant for me and I want it back.”
My knees threatened to give way beneath me as I battled the fear taking over me. I couldn’t compute the story he was telling. It was too much, and all of my focus was still on Claire. I didn’t give a shit about where I came from.
Valerius’s cruel laughter echoed across the space.
“Just take me,” I pleaded. “Let her go and do what you want with me.”
“Please,” I begged, because I wasn’t above begging. I’d do anything to save Claire. She didn’t deserve this.
I wished I had control over my powers.
I wanted to save her.
To punish him.
I wish I was a worthy sister.
But I was nothing.
He feigned pondering my request as he slowly walked across the stage, each of his heavy steps echoing like thunder through the conservatory. A sickeningly amused grin etched on his horrible face.
“No.”
Silent tears streamed down my face. I felt my magic stirring to life within me, but I couldn’t focus it, direct it. It felt as useless as I was with these bracelets I couldn’t take off.
With a lazy flick of his fingers, he gave a single command. “Bring them down.”
My heart slammed violently against my ribs as figures in dark attire stepped forward, their movements precise and practiced. One by one, the silks were lowered, the suspended bodies descending with an eerie grace that made my stomach churn.
They were placed gently on their feet.
Too gently.
Like they were precious.
“No…” I whispered, shaking my head as I stumbled forward, only to be held back, firm hands gripping my arms, anchoring me in place. “Stop… please.”
No one listened.
Valerius approached the first woman, circling her slowly, almost thoughtfully. His fingers lifted to her mask, tracing its edge like he was admiring the craftsmanship.
Everything in me screamed.
“Don’t—”
He removed the mask.
For a split second, hope flared—wild and desperate.
It wasn’t Claire.
Relief crashed into me so sudden it made me dizzy.
But it didn’t last.
Because Valerius simply hummed, as though mildly disappointed, before making a small, but deep cut to her throat.
The woman didn’t even have time to react.
One moment she stood there—still, vacant, hollow-eyed—and the next, she crumpled, her body folding in on itself as though whatever had been holding her up had simply… let go.
Blood poured from her in an instant.
A choked sound tore from my throat.
The room didn’t react.
No gasps.
No outrage.
Nothing.
Just silence.
Valerius stepped over her like she was nothing more than discarded fabric and moved to the next.
“No—stop—please. I’ll do anything—” My voice broke, panic clawing its way up my chest as I struggled against the hands holding me. “Just stop!”
He didn’t even acknowledge me.
Another mask.
Another face revealed.
Another brief flicker of hope.
Not her.
And again.
Each time, the same cruel rhythm.
Reveal.
Pause.
Discard.
My entire body trembled, there was only one left.
It had to be Claire.
“Please,” I screamed, my voice raw now, tearing at my throat. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want—just stop!”
That finally made him pause.
He turned his head slightly, just enough that I knew he’d heard me.
But he still smiled.
“What I want,” he murmured, almost gently. “Is you… broken.”
My breath hitched.
My heart pounded.
And then, he stepped toward the last one.
Everything inside me went cold.
No.
“Wait—” I choked, the word barely forming as my entire body locked in place.
He reached for the mask.
Time slowed.
The world narrowed to that single moment, as his fingers curled around the edge of it and lifted.
My lungs refused to work.
And then I saw her.
Claire.
Something inside me shattered completely.
“Claire—”
Her name ripped from me, broken and desperate, as I lunged forward again, fighting with everything I had, even though I knew—knew—that I couldn’t change what was about to happen.
Her eyes—glassy, unfocused—shifted slightly at the sound, like some part of her still recognised me.
And Valerius… he just watched.
Watched me break.
Watched her sway.
Watched it all like it was nothing more than theatre.
Then, without a flicker of hesitation.
He made that same small, final move.
And the world ended.
I crashed to my knees before her—the hands that had held me finally letting go—desperate to save her. To do anything to save her from this.
This was all my fault.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” I cried, pushing the palm of my hand against her throat. But it was no use. My vision blurred with tears and blood kept pouring from the wound.
It was so deep.
Too deep.
There was so much blood.
“I love you,” I sobbed.
“I know.”
I held her close. Normally, I would have been scared to be around so much human blood. Scared that the monster in me would take over but I knew nothing mattered more than this moment right now. Nothing mattered but her and I wouldn’t let her go through this alone.
Visions of our life together flooded my mind, her laughter, her bright eyes, her unwavering love for me.
I rocked her in my arms as I vowed to tear apart the world for her.
I was vaguely aware that everyone was looking at us, but I didn’t care about them, they’d have to kill me before I let go of her.
“I should… I should have come and found a way to get you out of here the second I heard you were taken,” I cried between shaky breaths.
“Don’t,” she croaked, the blood bubbling from her mouth as she tried to form words.
“Shh,” I cried, trying and failing to control my breathing.
“Don’t let,” she whispered, the words barely audible. “Let them dim your light.”
Before I could process her words or form a response, her eyes closed.
I choked on a sob at the understanding that they weren’t going to open again. I’d never see her beautiful ocean blue eyes again, I’d never see that spark of life that had kept me alive again.
This couldn’t be happening.
“No,” I whispered against her blood smeared cheek.
No. No. No. No.
No.
God, please no.
This was my fault.
My body trembled, numb to everything around me.
I felt her try and fail to take a breath, the action stopping before she could draw in any air.
And in that moment, I felt her lifeforce slip out from between my arms.