The Bane of Light

Bartering

"Do not dispute with her, —she is a lunatic" - William Shakespeare, Richard III

∞

"Do you two realize what a mess you have made for me? He can report me for assault! He can claim that I attacked him by using you!" I yelled at them. My tangent had been going on for what felt like hours now, my throat parched from the extortion of my vocal cords. I would loose my already-frail voice from all his yelling.

"We were the ones who kidnapped him, he can't possibly blame it on you!" Cera justified. I narrowed my eyes at her. So far, she was the only one who bothered to defend their actions. Throughout the entire conversation, it was her pleading their innocence.

"As if anyone would believe you two were smart enough to pull this off on your own" I snapped. She flinched at me, while Clair had no reaction. He was staring up at the ceiling, as he had been for the last hour, unbothered while spinning in his leather desk-chair. The nerve to act as if this didn't concern him!

"And you" I hissed at him, winding my shadows around the wheels of the chair, before forcefully yanking it out from under him. He crashed to the floor in a tangle of lanky limbs and twisted joints.

"You may have everyone fooled with your little nonchalance act, but I see right through it. Don't think you'll get away with pinning the entire blame on Cera" I hissed at him. He rolled his eyes at me, before I sent an urn flying towards his head. He ducked, the vase just missing his head, but looked quite frazzled by the action. His golden eyes were wild as he looked back at me.

"You will not pull this with me. Just because SHE"- I pointed a finger towards Cera-" has more influence over you, does not mean you do not have a mind of your own. I know how your magic works, and her being more powerful has nothing to do with your free will"

His eyes widened, but he didn't reply. It was a low blow, pointing out that Cesarie was the stronger twin, that she had more influence over his character than he did hers. But it was a fact that he used it as a scapegoat every time something went south. He didn't like when it was pointed out, but had no problem exploiting the circumstance when he needed an easy way out.

The truth was, he was a master in the art of victimizing himself. It was the male audacity in him. Cesarie had more power within their shared mental-space, so her presence imposed into Clair's own personality. It domineered over him, making him share a female perspective on the world.  That's was partly why he identified as mentally non-binary. It was only natural, seeing that he had the female gaze imposing on his every thought.

He was male, but also adapted some of Cesarie's female awareness, due to their interloping, constant proximity. Because of her, he was more than male and wasn't confined to one gender. He had access to both perspectives. But that did not mean that he did not have free will, being forced to go along with whatever Cesarie decided on, just because she had more influence. He had free will, just a bit less of it than his twin. He could not and would not use that card on me. Clairmont had access to the cunning of a woman, and the audacity of a man, and I refused to let him use it against me.

"You two can pull this on anyone else in the academy, but not me. I don't care who you do it to, but not me. You will not screw me over like this. I made it clear that Paris was off limits. He is my claim. Mine. And you two still went ahead with it"

The twins were silent. Claire was finally taking the situation seriously, after his sister had spent the last hour justifying their actions and breaking her neck for the both of them. Gods I could not stand men and their shamelessness. He was only lucky that he was not solely male, or I would not have tolerated him at all. And yet, his ability to identify with the female mind was only thanks to his sister too. It was his sister's female excellence that was dragging this moron up.