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Revenge. Did I want revenge? The ball of rage inside of me surged with the very thought of it. The queen wanted revenge. She wanted it so much that she had charmed her way into the highest position in the kingdom. All, from what I could discern, for her mother.

I tried to remember her. Her mother. My mother. But it was all fuzzy. The only memory I had of her was back when I was a child, she was brushing my hair, telling me everything would be alright.

The mages had something to do with it. They killed her. And the evil queen hated them for it. I hated them for it.

Except those mages are long gone and dead. Did the current mages deserve her wrath? Mine?

“You’re confused.” Rebecca placed her hand on mine. “Understandably so. I can’t imagine how you must feel with two halves of yourself warring for purchase. Adam and the others... have been kind to you. This you. But if they knew what you were, who you truly are, do not think for a second that they wouldn’t turn on you.”

Tears burned my eyes, I blinked them back and sniffed. “You don’t know that. They care for me... they wouldn’t.”

“They would,” Rebecca interrupted, her hand tightening on mine. “And they will. It might be hard to hear this, but the mages haven’t gotten any better over the centuries. If anything, they’ve gotten worse. They can be open with their magic and power, and they have no issue using that power to subdue the humans. Which they do regularly.”

I couldn’t argue with her. I’d seen the results of mages being out in the open. The oppression they had pressed down upon the humans. If anything, they were better off when the mages were in the shadows, then at least, they could live normal lives, not culled and collared by the mages as nothing more than pets.

That rage inside of me flared, and my hand burned where it touched the bed, the scent of burnt fabric filling the air. I glanced down at my hand and gasped, jerking my hand back. Scorch marks sat where my hand had been in a perfect imprint.

“You can’t control your powers because you won’t come to peace with who you are. Who you are meant to be,” Rebecca coaxed, reaching up to brush my hair away from my face.

“But I don’t want to be her.” I jerked away and stood from the bed. “There’s nothing happy or pleasant in my memories. There’s only hate and anger. A burning need for destruction, for someone to pay for what happened to her mother, my mother. And, while I want her to have justice, I can’t kill them. I can’t take justice on someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“Then what about the ones who do?” Rebecca flipped the television on the far wall on. A woman with a stern expression and slicked back rose-colored hair talked about what happened at the party.

“The council has not confirmed who was behind the attack on the council of mages’ ball on Friday night which left a dozen injured and one casualty, Master Tuck.” They showed a picture of the old mage to one side of the screen. “While the identity of the ones responsible for this attack is unknown, there is speculation that it was caused by the notorious activist group, Humans First.”

“An unknown source has submitted a video from inside the party, depicting a young woman blasting the council with what could only be seen as fireballs before barreling out of the party.” A clip of the party appeared in a small box off to the side of the woman’s face.

My insides churned and rolled at the sight of me or rather the queen in my body launching magic attacks at Rebecca and Adam before turning on the other party goers. The images were shaky and at an awkward angle, so they couldn’t quite get my face in the picture but anyone who knew me would know that it was me.

“Along with the attack on that evening, we have also been made aware that the tower which had mysteriously appeared in Old Central Park has been destroyed.”

My heart stuttered in my chest at the rubble of my tower. The place I’d once called home for over a thousand years now nothing more than a pile of stones and dust. The queen in me preened with pride at having destroyed our prison, but I couldn’t help but feel sad.

It was my prison, of course, but it was mine. The only constant in my life for the last thousand years and now it was gone. The only connection to my past, completely obliterated.

“Suspicions have circulated that the same person who attacked the council of mages ball was also responsible for the destruction of the tower. We are asking for anyone who has any information pertaining to this attacker to come forth.”

The image changed over to a man with a hooked nose and a large mole on the left side of his face. “In other news, Arch Mage Heizer has passed the torch to his grandson, Adam Spellman. He will begin his work as Arch Mage as of today. We are going to Sima now to get a comment from the new Arch Mage.”

The screen changed to a video of reporters crowding around Adam. His ash blonde hair fell over his forehead, dark bruises beneath his eyes and the tight pinch of his lips the only thing showing that he was distressed. Behind him stood the others.

Gage with his brown black eyes peered over the mask covering half his face as he surveyed the area for threats. Zane pushed up his glasses before clutching his arms across his chest. The tension in his shoulders showed how uncomfortable being in the crowd of people was for him. Luke and Blake stared into the crowd acting very much at ease with the situation.

Except Blake’s hair was a mess, his clothes wrinkled and the usual restrained irritation on his face had turned into a full on glare. Luke wasn’t much better. It was as if he hadn’t slept for a week and his eyes fluttered multiple times as he wiped a hand over his eyes.

My breath caught at the sight of them. I wanted to be there for them. To tell them I was okay. That I was sorry. I was so sorry.

“Arch Mage Adam, Arch Mage Adam!” The reporters shoved their little black wands in his face trying to get his attention. “Can you tell us about the attack? Who’s responsible? What will you first act as Arch Mage be?”

Adam pushed his shoulders back and stared into the image. “We do not have any information to share with you at this time. But I want to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to make sure that our people are safe.” He stared hard as if he were looking straight at me. “All of our people. We won’t rest until the person behind this is brought in and taken care of.”

To some, the way he said taken care of might have been a threat. But to me, it was a plea. A plea to let them help me. To let me know they didn’t blame me for what happened.

But it didn’t matter. I blamed myself. I blamed my inability to control the thing inside of me and I couldn’t come back to them, if ever, until she was taken care of.

Rebecca turned the television off and stood, stopping before me. “As you can see, there is quite a mess out there right now. There are some out there calling for your head. They want to see you burn for what you did. And yet there are others who cheer you on in the shadows. You are not the only one who has lost someone because of those power-hungry bastards.”

I flinched, staring at her.

Rebecca gave a wry smile. “You’re right about not all the mages being human-hating vermin. Some of us can see the beauty of humans. The fragility. The...” She trailed off, her expression going soft before clearing her throat. “Well, anyway, not all of us are bad.”

My brows furrowed as I scrutinized her words. “You love a human.”

“Loved,” Rebecca clipped, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. “Past tense.”

“What happened?”

Rebecca cleared her throat and locked eyes with me. “They killed her. My darling Mara was an activist. She’d go to the council building with the others, protesting the mistreatment of humans, and then she would come home to me.” Rebecca swished her skirt around her. “Of course, the council couldn’t have the little humans getting stupid ideas like you know freedom. So they killed them all.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “Thankfully, no one knew she belonged to my household, or I would have been punished for letting her get out of line.”

I licked my lips, taking in what she told me. “I’m sorry.”

She waved me off with a tight lift of her lips. “Yes, well. There’s no use crying over spilled milk or all that nonsense. What I’m trying to say is that you are not alone in this. You have allies. Plenty of mages who would love nothing more than to see the council out on their asses, but we need someone with the power to do it. We need you, Eva. We need the queen.”

My mouth opened and closed. The right words unable to exit my lips. “But I can’t. I can’t control her. I can’t control my powers. How do I know, how do you know, that if I let her take over, she won’t just kill you all?”

Getting rid of the council was one thing, but I couldn’t take the chance that, if I let that rage loose, she won’t kill everyone. The good mages and the bad.

The very thought of her killing Luke or Zane, even Gage, the way she’d taken out Tuck made my throat clench. To see their pretty faces ripped apart by her magic, my magic. It was unbearable.

Rebecca leveled me a look. “That’s why you are here, are you not?”

I couldn’t help the choking sound that came out of my mouth. “Huh? What? I am?”

“I took you from your cell before they could take you and do what they do: dissection, interrogation, torture, the whole nine yards. So you could come here away from any distractions,” she gave me a pointed look, “and figure out how to control that ticking time bomb inside of you.”

My lips tipped down in a frown. “And how exactly do I do that?”

Shrugging an elegant shoulder, Rebecca strolled to the bedroom door. “How should I know? Maybe stop fighting it. Have a chat with your other self. See if you can come to some kind of agreement. Something you both can come to terms with. But I know you can’t go out there and do what needs to be done the way you are now.”

She opened the door. “I’ll leave you to it. You’re free to wander the house as you like, the kitchen is downstairs. Just don’t blow anything up, alright?”

I didn’t respond to her, my mind still reeling with the prospect that I could control this thing inside of me. The door clicked closed and then there was just me. Or rather both of mes.

I could feel her there inside of me. Waiting, watching, for her moment to get her revenge.

Closing my eyes, I blew out a long breath before looking toward the window. “So I guess it’s time we have a talk.”