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Her eyes burst open in shock, with the start of a scream working it's way out, but I swiftly grabbed the rag tucked into my waistband and shoved it into her mouth. “Shhh, I can’t have you going and spoiling all of the fun already,” I whispered, chuckling quietly.

Katryn tried to fight my hold on her, managing to work one of her arms free and lifting it halfway to my face before her arm gave out and fell back to the bed.

Her eyes widened more than I’d thought possible, with tears springing to the corners as she caught on to what was happening.

She continued to try to scream, resulting in the sound coming out as whimpers.

“Shhh. . .” I corrected, my fingers sliding down her face, and then down my leg where I found the handle of my dagger from Nickolai.

Pulling it out, I dragged it up to her face, encouraging her body to have an instinctual tremble.

In a sweet and falsely soothing voice, I said, “I’m going to make you pretty, remember? ”

Her whimpers continued—the tears now flowing down her face as she shut her eyes.

“You know, I would’ve let you have the king. But when you broke into my room to destroy our dead son’s things. . . well I couldn’t let you get away with that, now could I?”

Her eyes flew back open at my revelation and I could see my eyes glowing red within the reflection of her glossy blue irises—the sight of which only spurred me on more.

By the look on her face, I could tell that she didn’t realize what she was ripping up at the time, she probably just thought they were sentimental.

“First things first,” I announced and gathered up her long blonde hair. Her head turned limply to the side as I pulled the strands up enough for me to slice my blade through them.They cut like butter.Forcing her face to look back at me, I stroked her head, saying, “That’s better!”

She acted as if I had chopped off a limb. Chest heaving with heavy breaths that rushed in and out of her nose between sobs.

“Hush sweetie, I’m just getting started,” I declared, which had her sobbing even harder.

Dragging the dagger over her face once again, I voiced, “I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with your fae healing at first. Since of course this blade is only silver.

But then I realized. . . I could dip it in steel powder and that should work, right?

I had to sharpen my steel sword for ages to gather enough powder for us to try it out. ”

Pressing the sharp edge of the blade into her cheekbone, I let it slice a small portion of her face, which elicited a delicious, muffled scream. Pulling the blade away, I watched.

The cut didn’t heal.

“Good news for you, Katryn. That means I won’t have to cut you as much.”

I felt my true self slipping away with each second, each sentence of evil spewing from my mouth. I had planned this, and yet I hadn’t at the same time. I was losing everything I admired within myself.

“ You will eventually like this other you, girl.”

Katryn’s whole body was trembling, but I knew that she would be unable to fight back. Not that I couldn’t take her if she could—it only made things easier for me.

“Now. Since you like to gossip so much, why don’t we give you a new mouth? Shall we?”

I could tell she was trying to shake her head, but it was no use with the drug.

Gripping her chin with one hand, I used my other to slice her mouth open wider and wider.

The red ball of mist within me danced at the sight.

Gashes split her face, creating more space in her mouth for her screams to escape.

Covering her now gaping mouth, I muffled her noises to listen for any sign that she was heard and I was about to be caught. At the resounding silence, a soulless whisper escaped from my mouth, “Quiet, Katryn, I’m not quite ready for you to die, but I will kill you if you don’t control yourself.”

Moving to her ear, I cut one of them off, causing the blood to join the puddle already forming among the white sheets. “That should hinder your ability to listen to rumors.”

Her eyes were clenched as she continuously screamed through the rag.

“What should we do next?” I asked her.

“ Fingers,” the voice hissed eagerly.

“Good idea! Can’t have you ripping up any more things, now can we?”

Picking up her limp arm, I brought her hand up to display it before me. Her nails were pristinely done in red polish, with skin soft from years of continuously using moisturizing products. I didn’t bother with the dagger as I gripped her pointer finger and ripped it off.

Another scream tore from her, followed by a smooth voice hesitantly saying, “Tiny?”

I felt the other being immediately pull back as I whipped my head toward the sound to find Nickolai standing beside the open bedroom door, concern filling his features.

My heart pulled to him, but it was tampered down.

“Look, Katryn, Nickolai came to join in on the fun!” I said, smirking between them.

The relief that was now on Katryn’s face was unmistakable.

She didn’t think that he would join in.

To be honest, I wasn’t too sure he would either.

“Why are you doing this, Mira?” he asked, stepping toward me cautiously.

The smile fell from my face as I answered, “I have to.”

“ Kill her, now!” the being within me shouted.

“Why do you have to?” he asked, taking another step closer.

“ Do it!” Her hiss ricocheted throughout me.

The mist within me raged as I glared at her, “Because she destroyed his drawings.”

I drew my blade to her neck, and her eyes widened in renewed panic. But right as I applied pressure to the soft skin, I was ripped off her in one swift movement.

“No!”

Nickolai tackled me to the ground, twisting mid-air so as not to land on me—the movement knocking the dagger from my hand. His arms were like iron as they wrapped around me, trapping my own arms to my side.

“LET GO OF ME!” I screamed while fighting his grip. “Please! I just need to kill her!”

“GUARDS!” Nickolai shouted over me. The guards that I’d seen earlier came barreling into the room one after another. Their unpreparedness for the scene that they witnessed as soon as they entered the room was apparent in the shock written on their faces.

“Take Katryn to the infirmary and get a sedative for this one.”

I fought against his grip even harder as his plans for me became clear, but it was no use. He was stronger than me.

The guard that went to get the sedative was gone and back in what felt like no time at all, and before I knew it, the world was once again going black.