My Bloody Francia

7. In Bloom

The Chateau. Midnight.

Many of Erzsebet's followers give her applause as she stands over them in a pristine dress as Drolta stands next to her.

Erzsebet: My people, no longer shall we be trapped on the edges of the world in pitiful shadows. The skies will break into obsidian black. And my glory will cover the Earth. 

In the massive crowd that applauds her once again, Olrox is sitting there. 

Erzsebet: And yes, she was once the humble girl who they called mad. But see? She was the Messiah the entire time. And now she has the blood of Sekhmet in her veins! All will see, and all we bow. She stands here not only as your queen, but as your goddess. Feast for your goddess! Drink! Dance!

The vampires below give her a standing applause. Except Olrox. Other vampires appear with wine glasses filled with human blood on plates, passing them out. Drolta comes down the stairs with Claire, who is also in a dress. Erzsebet growls in anger. 

Erzsebet: Look at you. 

Erzsebet holds her hand out, and Claire takes it. She proceeds to dance with Claire. Claire would talk, but she has had her powers taken away, and she knows what awaits her if she talks when not spoken to. 

Drolta: Mistress, I have good news. I have a plan on how we can secure the Abbot's loyalty forever. He has a daughter.

Erzsebet stops dancing with Claire to look over to Drolta.

Erzsebet: Ah, a daughter. How delicious. 

Erzsebet bites into Claire's neck.

Drolta: And I know on how we can break Y/N. We can kill two birds with one stone, Erzsebet.

Erzsebet then pulls away.

Erzsebet: How exciting. Summon The Abbot here and the rest of our confidants once our dance has concluded. We shall go over your plan soon enough.

Drolta bows and walks off as Erzsebet and her followers proceed to dance and feast the night away. Yet, your life will get more twisted in the next few hours.

-

Morning. 

You, Maria, Tera, Kalafri, Viessa, and Madeline are gathering fish from the lake. Maria only stays silent, not saying a word about Emmanuel. 

Y/N: Maria.

Viessa: Hey. If you need to talk, I-

Maria steps away from you and Viessa. Tera notices this.

Tera: Maria, you going to have to talk to me sooner or later.

Maria summons her turtle to go across the river with.

Kalafri: You know, you did miss the stepping stones. 

Silence. Maria gets to the other side as Tera sighs. She's hurt just like Maria is. 

Tera: Maria, I know this is hard for you. But if I would have told you, everything would have changed. People would have found out.

You follow Maria but she stops walking to turn around and look at Tera. 

Tera: They... they would have found out that you're "the whore's daughter." If he and I kept it secret, we would keep you safe. 

The other girls stay silent, knowing they have next to nothing to say about this.

Tera: Maria, I loved him. Perhaps if I had insisted he stayed with us and been a father, he wouldn't have betrayed himself like this. 

Maria: I...