Neither woman tried to look up, their heads pressed against the cold stones of the room, held there by a force they couldn't overcome.
They had been sitting in their throne room discussing matters of state when they saw the black portal open. Both had just enough time to rise and throw themselves down the steps toward the ground, ignoring any possible injury that might come from it.
Thankfully, they had reached the floor before he had finished striding through completely.
The being strode across the room, every step he took cracking the marble tiles like someone walking on thin ice over a lake.
“If you do not, the luxury you have come to enjoy will be gone before you can take a breath.”
They had not expected his visit. It had been decades since he had last come.
Molly felt the muscles in her throat and chest finally freed from the force he was crushing her with.
The tone he spoke in left no question about what her answer must be.
“Yes!” she said with a gasp, the air finally able to move as she desired. “I will send out –”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Quiet,” he interrupted her, freezing her muscles again. “I do not need to hear your plans. The others know, and there is chaos I must deal with. Everyone is making moves, and I cannot waste time here.”
His feet stopped near her and her sister's head.
She felt him bending down near them, the pressure of his presence crushing her against the floor.
“It is a black skill and a boy. No one knows anything beyond that. Someone has paid much to remove all traces of him, and I will not risk my place. Have answers or, better yet, his head when I return.”
The tiniest breath she managed meant he had stood up.
“I will have a head one way or another.”
Two seconds later, air rushed into her body, and the pain in her muscles and bones roared to life.
A sobbing sound came from her sister next to her.
“Stop it, Macy, we don’t have time for that.”
Molly rose as quickly as she could, straightening her gown and taking the sweetest breath she could remember in a while.
Macy stood up a moment later, looking at the carnage before them. The guards always stationed in the throne room, were crushed, blood seeping out their armor.
“It’s like a giant stepped on them… they're flattened.”
“Focus,” Molly snapped at her twin sister. “You heard the instructions. You know the stakes. Unless you want to end up like the last of our line who failed, we will not.”
Macy turned to her sister and saw the rage and intent behind her eyes. Molly had always been the one to do what was required. “Very well. Tell me what to do.”
Molly smiled, reaching over and brushing her sister's cheek with her fingers.“Let us remind the others why they fear us,” she said, her red eyes beginning to glow.