Roseofblades

A short and fun chapter. Enjoy! ❤️

Kian sighed dramatically as he watched his twin sister pace back and forth. He glanced at the human who was busy fidgeting with his canvas and spoke softly.

“Take a break, Taciten. Last thing we need is for my dearest sister to do something rash and end up killing yet another one of my artists.”

The human paled and looked up at the massive mountain of a woman who was now glaring at her brother with a look of barely contained rage, and quickly turned and fled the room. 

“Did you hear what I said, Kian, or are you as deaf as you are vain?”

Kian ignored her jibe and stood up from the plush red cushioned couch he had been reclining on.

“Yes, sister. I heard you. There were reports from the ass-end of the world of several humans being killed by some sort of divine magic. The same reports mentioned that the one doing said magic was a redheaded woman. And for some reason you thought this was important enough to interrupt my busy day because…?”

“Busy. Day?!” 

Lissa was about to stomp across the room to pound her brother's smug face to a pulp until she saw the faint smirk written on his lips. He had been taunting her… And as usual… She had fallen for it. She exhaled through her nose loudly and punched the nearest thing to her; a marble statue depicting the nude form of her twin. It shattered into thousands of pieces from the force of her blow, and she felt a miniscule amount of relief from the destruction. 

Kian ignored the outburst and yawned in feigned boredom. He looked at his sister who was still glaring at him and chuckled softly.

“Calm yourself, dearest sister. I'm sure that it was some witch or aspiring sorceress who got a hold of a piece of powerful magic left behind by one of the others. Eronica and Livia are long gone. Alarric made sure of that.”

“But what if you're wrong? What if it was one of them and it draws Alarric back to this realm?”

Kian sighed again and stood up. He walked across the room and placed his hands on his sister's arms. He moved his head forward and pressed his forehead against hers. Despite her anger, Lissa found herself smiling at the gesture.

“Even if it was one of them, Alarric is too busy trying to find Ura and Oesis to even notice.”

Lissa pulled away from her brother and clenched her jaw in irritation, her anger starting to simmer again.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” 

She glared at him and he scoffed loudly.

“They lost the privilege of being called anything else when they abandoned us to Alarric's machinations.”

Lissa growled but didn't press the argument. He was right, of course, as he usually was… But Lissa still had trouble not viewing them as her parents. It felt like only yesterday that she was watching in awe as her mother sculpted the first races of mortals and breathed the breath of life into them. Her eyes were filled with amazement as her father forged souls of pure energy and guided them into the frail vessels, imbuing them with the gift of consciousness.

And now, here she was, hiding within the mortal realm like a criminal fleeing the hangman's noose. Or a rabbit shivering in its warren, hiding from the hungry jaws of the fox. Three of her brothers were long dead, slain and eaten by the one who called himself Alarric. How long would it be before he returned to finish what he started? Lissa placed her hand on her abdomen, and felt the mass of horribly mangled scar tissue from where Alarric had almost fully consumed her like he had done to her sisters.

Kian saw the worried look on his twin's face and he gave her a warm smile and tucked several wisps of long red hair behind her ear. He loved looking upon her beautiful face, seeing many of the same perfect facial features on her that he saw whenever he gazed into a mirror.

“What can I do to assuage your fears, Lissa?”

The tall muscular woman calmed at hearing her brother use her name. As often as he spoke to her in a flippant apathetic tone, she knew that he cared deeply for her. Hearing her name on his lips proved that. She sighed through her nose, feeling some of the anger that was burning in her veins ebb away. She considered his question and realized she didn't actually know what he could do to help. He must have sensed this, because he reached forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. 

“Your worries will be for naught. Alarric has no interest in the mortal realm. No matter what the reports say, you and I both saw him devour Eronica and Livia. Just like what he took from you and I, there is no coming back from that. But… If it will make you feel better, Lissa, I can send scouts of my own to find out more details.”

She blinked her deep blue eyes at him and nodded. He smiled warmly and peppered her face with tiny kisses before pressing his lips to hers and kissing her fiercely. She lost herself in the sensation before he quickly pulled away, kissed her forehead once, and walked towards the door.

As he exited and she heard the door shut behind him, she growled in anger at the way he had left her lusting for something she knew he wouldn't give her. No matter how much she tried to contain the building indignation, she felt it overtake her. Her feet pounded against the floor as she burst across the room and began smashing row after row of tall white marble statues. Her anger flared hotter as she drove her fists through the stone visages of her brother’s irritating, rage-inducing, gorgeous, perfect face.

Kian sighed and shook his head as he heard the sounds of his twin unleashing her pent-up rage. While he should be angry at her for destroying the statues that had so been painstakingly crafted to honor and celebrate his glorious form, none of them could even compare to the real thing. He remembered looking over each of them with a scrutinizing eye, his lip curling in disgust as he found a flaw that rendered the entire thing completely worthless. And yet, he could never bring himself to toss the imperfect creations away. He kept them as a reminder to himself of just how flawless he was, and how he was constantly surrounded by a sea of imperfect ugliness. 

As he walked through the halls of what was once a glorious temple erected to worship him, and of course pay homage to the others, he considered the implications of the redheaded woman with the supposed divine powers. If it was Livia or Eronica, which he highly doubted it was, but if it was them… what could it mean? He had watched, barely holding his nearly destroyed form together as Alarric savagely consumed both of his sisters entirely. He knew from his many, many, many attempts to return his true form to its perfect state that anything consumed by Alarric was gone forever. It angered him to no end that he had to expend such a large amount of power every second of every day to maintain the altered form that he so rightly deserved. If it was one of his sisters… Did that mean there was a chance he could restore his body to what it once was?

He had to know. Even if it meant walking amongst the filthy unwashed masses of mortals that plagued this realm. No matter what it took, he would find the answers. He would be whole again.

Roseofblades

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If you like this and you haven't already, check out my other story How I became the Empress of Hell!