Farren

      There wasn't much that could hurt me, yet all that could had thrived to come about. It seemed that no matter which direction I turned to, a horrible outcome awaited me. Everything had been taken away from me; my family, my honor, and even my beauty, all that remained was dark hollowness inside an ugly, decaying shell of what I used to be. If there was one justified time to pity myself then this was it, but I would not.

Around the flanks of the tent had been laid many long and narrow pillows which we sat on as we gathered around the crackling fire in the center. I shoved my forged iron leg underneath the pillow and swept my hair over the deformed side of my face. A little girl with greasy dreadlocks dropping over a smudged face hunched over and handed me a steaming cup of tea from a wooden tray. With my hands tightly gripped around the pleasantly hot cup, I sniffed in the scents of herbs and fruits. Across from me, Loreen politely declined. Of course she did not want tea, it was blood she wanted. So did I, all of Loreen's blood.

Lasho held a small bowl with a spoon in it in front of me. "Sugar?"

With a nod I took the bowl and scooped four teaspoons in my tea. "What are we doing here, Lasho?" I looked at him as I stirred the sugar. "Are you seriously considering to be allies with the Moreau's? They were exiled, there is no bloodline that is more vile than the Moreau's."

"Except that one bloodline that created black magic," Loreen muttered from the other side of the tent. She laid a finger against her bottom lip and looked up. "Which was it again?" Then, she pointed at me with a smile. "Oh, right, the Van Velsen family."

The aching pit inside my stomach made me want to just give up and go home, and cry some more over the loss of Frank. But if I wanted to do right by him then I needed to stay and fight. "Yes, the very same dark magic your family has been using the most," I said. "Let's drop the hypocrisy, Loreen. We created it, yes, but we never forced anyone to use it."

Oh, how I missed my twin. It hadn't dawned on me yet that he was gone, not completely. Each time I came home, I still drew in breath to call his name, then remembered that he'd never answer again. I missed his voice. I missed his laugh. I missed his energy. I missed his every being. Frank was the very last person who deserved this, it should've been me.

"Farren," Lasho said, making me look up. "I think that sugar is molten by now."

I blinked away the upcoming tears and stopped stirring. "Ah, yes, thank you." I brought the cup to my nose and held it against my lips. With a frown I put it in front of me on the dirt and faced Lasho. "You might think that Chrim's business doesn't affect you, but it does. If our town falls, then your witches will lose most of their magic. Whatever remains will be insignificant. They'll only be able to do some tarot and some poor predictions, some curses, but nothing of importance." I nudged my chin at Loreen sitting across from me. "Choose her, and Chrim will fall, and with that, Lasho, your tribe will fall as well."

Lasho looked up at the sky, then nodded. "You made a good case, Farren." He turned to Loreen and gave her a nod. "Go ahead. Tell me why I should join you instead."

"If anyone is going to make Chrim crumble, then it will be her," Loreen said with a nod at me. "Farren is not rational, nor does she care about her people. All she cares about is power and control. She brings nothing but chaos, and what we need after the massacre she committed is order, not more of her chaos."

Lasho narrowed his eyes at me. "Why did you commit that massacre, Farren?"

"How else does one get rid of a tyrannizing council?" I asked with a shrug. A flicker of condemnation brushed across Lasho's face. At this point I did not care anymore who he aligned with, for even his greatest fortunetellers would never see our greatest army coming once they were risen. In fact, I was certain that he chose his side as soon as Loreen had appeared. "It was to either endure their oppression, or to slaughter them." I took a sip of the tea. "So, I slaughtered them." Across from me Loreen's fury came at me in waves, which only served me as more fuel. "And I would do it a million times over. You should've been there, Lasho, it was glorious. We swept them like they were mere ants." With a snicker I glanced at the sky. "They had nowhere to run."

Lasho puckered his lips and swallowed away a chunk of shock and fear. There was no point in pretending to be a saint, for he had chosen Loreen's side the moment he laid eyes on her. "Tell me why, Farren."

"Why not?" At this point, he began to infuriate me. It was none of his business. It astonished me that losing my leg had made others lose all respect. They regarded me as fragile now, I knew, and they no longer feared me. I leaned over and grabbed my walking cane, and hauled myself up to my feet. "Lasho, we are done." Looking down at his stunned face, I threw him a faint smile. "I will not stand here and beg a bunch of germs to be my allies when I can easily sweep up all of you."

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