Noises buzzed in the distance.

Kateen shouting. Crossbows reloading. Footsteps approaching.

Shh! I'm trying to sleep.

Steel whispered against leather, a sword unsheathing.

I let out a frustrated sigh. It came out as a gurgle in the back of my throat.

Fine, I'll wake up.

I blinked back to consciousness. The side of my face stung from falling on the floor. I was on top of Isla, the golden sceptre in her hand pressing into my stomach.

The floor creaked.

I lifted my head.

Miguel loomed over us with his rapier drawn, his sword arm pulled back to skewer us like a boar.

I rolled over my limp left hand and unleashed a stream of fire that engulfed the bald man's torso. My head nodded forward. I would have fainted again if not for the burning sensation shooting up my arm and the dying man's screams.

I blinked. The guards stopped loading their hand crossbows. Pale-faced and slack-jawed, they stared from me to the smoking lump that used to be Miguel. He died on his knees. The pungent odour of burning hair and leather tickled my nose. Behind the dead guard, Clarice flashed an impressed smile, and Kateen was speaking.

"You're a mage? They made an elf a mage before me?!"

"That much irony can be lethal."

Kateen turned in a swirl of white cloth to the tall man in lavender robes closing the door behind him.

"Shay?! What are you doing here?"

"Revenge, my dear. You always overcharged on silk."

He smiled, saluting with the enlarged sowing needle in his right hand. Its' tip was slick with blood.

The guard on the left raised his hand crossbow at the Immortal Tailor. The next moment, Shay's needle was lodged in his neck. With a flick of Shay's wrist, the needle flew back into his hand, pulled by a thread running from his sleeve through the needle's eye.

The other guard fired off a shot into Shay's chest. The revenant worked the crossbow bolt out of his sternum and threw it back at the guard with enough force to crack the man's skull. The second guard fell with a dull thud while the first slumped against a wall, gurgling from the hole in his neck.

"Apologies for being late," Shay said. "My business took longer than expected."

Kateen's eyes bulged. She took a protective position in front of Clarice, who looked upon the carnage with admiration.

"You're with the elf?!"

Shay shrugged.

"It's more like the elf is with me. Children. Stand up."

I blinked. I'd forgotten where I was and who was below me.

"Isla!"

"It's OK," she whispered, her eyes fixed on Kateen's frightened face.

I pushed myself up to my knees with trembling arms. A fresh sheen of sweat covered my face, and my limbs were numb.

Isla got to her feet, the golden sceptre clenched tight in her right fist. She looked down and offered me her hand. Her face was like the winter sky, cold and distant.

With her help, I stumbled to my feet. Her delicate fingers interlaced with mine, and I blushed from a wave of heat shooting up my arm.

Shay smirked.

"And speaking of revenge…"

Kateen followed Shay's gaze to Isla. There was something dark in the young woman's eyes.

"Isla, tell these men to stand down," Kateen said. "Isla, are you listening to me?!"

Isla panted, each breath a great effort. Her lips curled into a snarl, and the heat shooting up my arm intensified.

And then it happened.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

A tiny flame ignited on Kateen's dress.

She patted it down, but another bloomed.

And then another.

And another.

Each flame was mirrored on my body, shooting pricks of heat into my skin. I tried to shake myself free, but Isla had a white-knuckle grip on my hand.

"Isla, stop. Stop!"

While I grappled with Isla, Kateen patted down the flames with both hands.

"No! No, this won't do," she said in disbelief. "I was going to make you my princess. Pamper you. Praise you. Treat you like my daughter. You-You ungrateful two copper-piece whore!"

Kateen burst into flames, and her pain was mine. My knees buckled from the sensation of being burned alive.

I was Kateen.

I was Cynthia.

I was every person who died in Sin's mansion on that day.

Isla was using my land, exploiting my pain—their pain to draw upon my Landbound ability.

"Isla..."

My voice was weak, parched from the phantom fire consuming me. Isla stared ahead, watching Kateen's white dress burn black and the pearls in her hair pop and crackle. Clarice stepped back in wide-eyed amazement. Shay leaned against the room's doors, his arms in his wide sleeves and his eyebrows raised.

After a second or an hour, Isla stopped. The flames died down, and the blackened remains of Lady Kateen lay on the floor. For all her attention to her appearance, she looked no different from the burned guard a few feet away.

Clarice stared down at the body with dispassionate eyes.

"You did it. You really killed the old bag. Serves her right. She thought you were only a water mage."

I blinked up at Clarice from where I knelt on the floor. There was a rough edge to her voice. Her polite tone was just another act Kateen forced her to play.

Clarice folded her arms.

"So, who's going to kill me?"

I slipped my hand out of Isla's clammy grip and struggled to my feet. My words from the hallway echoed in my head.

Do. Better.

"We don't have to kill you. You were a victim like everyone else. We're taking the girls to Arwen. He could help you."

Like he helped me…

Clarice laughed.

"Are you stupid?"

She glanced from an exhausted Isla to a smiling Shay leaning against the doors.

"I'm not leaving this room alive."

She shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I had my fun. Right, Isla?"

"SHUT UP!"

I stepped between them.

"Isla, she's goading you."

I turned to Clarice, looking her up and down.

"She wants to die. Dying would be easier than living with herself—easier than facing the people she hurt."

Clarice narrowed her eyes as if seeing me for the first time.

I stepped closer to Isla and whispered.

"I get it. I really, really want to kill her, but you're better than me, and you're better than her."

I reached out and touched the back of her hand.

"Let's go home."

Isla looked up at me, and her eyes softened. She was back to the person I loved.

"Islaaa," Clarice said.

Isla tore her eyes away from me to scowl at the blonde woman.

"What?!"

Clarice smiled, her upturned lips never reaching her eyes.

"Do you want to know the best part about fucking you? It wasn't the look on your face or the way you moaned in your sleep… It was the way you tasted."

Isla bared her teeth.

"Y-You're SICK!"

"Isla?"

"And you NEED to get put down!"

"Wait!"

Isla grabbed my hand, and Clarice went up in a pillar of flame. The psychopath threw back her head and laughed. She stretched her arms to the side as fiery tendrils lashed against the ceiling like the branches of a tree. Blinding pain engulfed my body. I flit in and out of consciousness as my legs went limp.

She was going to kill me!

As I fell forward, I shot out a desperate hand and wrapped it around something hard and metallic.

I ripped the golden sceptre out of Isla's grip and fell face-first to the floor.

Isla followed soon after, falling on top of me in a sedated, unconscious state. My body spasmed from the pain of being burned alive twice. Sweat drenched my shirt, and saliva dripped from my mouth as I took short, painful breaths.

Over the crackling of burning flesh, Shay clapped.

"Now that was a show."

He pushed off from the doors and fluttered past the smoking corpses laid out in front of us.

"Thanks for your help," I said with a croak.

The revenant shrugged.

"I was curious. It's not every day that you get to see a royal mage at work."

Shay fluttered past me to the foot of the bed. He looked from the stained bedsheets to the back of Isla's dress and frowned.

"Can you walk, Jacob?"

"Do I have a choice? With all the noise we made, more guards will be coming."

Shay picked up and folded the stained bed sheet into a rectangle.

"That won't be a problem. I soundproofed the room before I came in. Paenula."

The folded bed sheet writhed and shifted in colour until it was a perfect replica of Isla's cloak. He draped it over her shoulders and then picked her up, carrying her in the crook of his arm.

"Shall we?"

"Give me a minute."

I bared my teeth and forced myself to stand. My stomach churned as the world rocked from left to right. The sulphurous smell of burning flesh and hair didn't help.

I frowned when I caught sight of Isla's sleeping face.

She knew…

She knew my Landbound ability caused me physical pain. Yet, she used it against my will. Her revenge was more important than my permission—more important than my life.

"Don't blame the child, Jacob."

"What? I wasn't-"

"Please, it's all over your face."

Shay sighed.

"There is a cycle to these things. In many cases, the victim becomes the perpetrator. For all our sakes, let us hope the beast in her has been sated."

Shay pointed to the pile of ash formerly known as Clarice.

"Now, come. You two have a wagon to catch."

I nodded, turning from the burnt bodies on the floor to the guard with the crossbow bolt sticking in his head and the other who died clutching at his throat.

The sooner we left Kateen's estate, the better.

Shay opened the door and slithered out of the room without a sound. I followed him into the hallway, passing the maid I knocked out.

A neat hole was punched into the side of her neck.

"Shay-"

"Keep your voice down," Shay whispered.

He glided through the hallways while I struggled to keep up. We crossed into the main hallway, and I stepped over the familiar silk rug. Shay waited for me at the entrance of the Dormitory, Isla still nestled in his right arm.

"Why did you kill the maid?" I asked, finally catching up to the Immortal Tailor.

Shay fluttered into the room, leaving me to close the door behind us.

He shrugged.

"You heard my Apprentice. No witnesses."

I paused at the door.

Something was different. The Dormitory was too silent.

My eyes wandered the room. All the girls were asleep, lying in their beds.

And they weren't breathing.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.