The Faerie Curses

Chapter Fifty: Heartbeats

"You're right."

Hall glowered down at me, but I could see his curiosity flickering beneath the surface. "Vengeance made me into a killer," I admitted, my voice rough and hoarse. "I murdered evil creatures for the last three years because I thought that enough bloodshed would make our parents' deaths worth something." I coughed violently. "All vengeance did was possess me. It did the same to you, Hall. I've done so many things that I'm not proud of, but you've become a victim beyond saving." I spat at my brother's feet. "It's a damn shame that you became so much weaker."

Hall's outrage simmered across his face like a blast of heat, and with a stab of triumph I knew that I had broken him ever so slightly.

"Weaker?" He exclaimed, his teeth glittering devilishly. "Suffering did not break me, not in the end. Vengeance was the only thing that kept me alive, that built me up until I had the strength to take what was mine."

"And what was that, the lives of others?" I snorted with bitter laughter. "You're sure a needy little bastard. Maybe it runs in the family, brother."

Hall's fist closed around the front of my ballgown, ripping me forcefully towards him. I winced, glancing over at Queen Titania as she rammed Oberon's bleeding head against the stone bench a few yards away. The sprite howled in agony as she crawled away from him, towards the slithering tree roots encasing her son.

"Glen!" Titania cried. Her gown was torn and and covered in grime, the meadow designs washed in blood and dirt. Her scarlet hair trailed behind her like coils of dying fire.

The summer queen held up her trembling, pale hands, summoning the last of her magic that she could possibly muster. There was that look in her eyes, that look as bleak as the death mark that curved around her clammy forearm.

The look a mother willing to give it all, even defeat, to save her child. It was a look I had seen in my own mother three years ago on the bridge in the Grimwood. Titania met my gaze for only an instant, conflicted emotions dancing across her green irises. I shook my head ever so slightly.

Don't try and save me when you can still save your son.

Queen Titania bit her lip, whispering words of a spell under her breath as she remained out of Hall's view. Oberon was barely conscious thanks to her; his head lolled against the stone of the bench as his eyes rolled in their sockets.

Meanwhile, Diandre remained motionless on the shores of the lake.

"You still think you can save them?" Hall murmured in my ear. "You still think that your friends can be rescued?" I could feel his voice dip as he recalled the blackened memories from long ago. "When those guards threw me into that grave, burying me alive in the dark, I thought that someone would help. I pleaded with them to leave me alone, but all I got were suffocating clumps of dirt flowing into my mouth. No one was there, Marissa."

My brother's fists curled around the only patch of pure white fabric left on my gown. I watched faintly as his touch left it charred and lost among the rest of the tatters.

"It took a long time for the guard's laughter to finally fade, leaving their stinging words behind as the only things to keep me company in the cold dark." My brother turned to me, speaking softly as if his story was a well kept secret. "Do you know what it feels like, the pitch black of a grave? It swallows everything up until all you hear are your own screams inside your head."