Page 93 of The Heartless One
“Fix things? The Deathless One destroys everything and anything in his path!” a man shouted, holding his gun over his head. “There are witches in our town square! Are we all going to stand by and allow that to happen?”
But then the crowd quieted because Jessamine had reached them. She walked through the beating heart of the crowd, the danger that had threatened her coven. Moonlight followed her, and she looked more ethereal and otherworldly than she ever had before. Even Elric’s breath caught in his throat as he watched her gliding through her subjects.
And then she reached for the man who had spoken. His face paled, his hand clenching around the gun still held above his head. But she didn’t want to hurt him. Elric could feel it as though she had whispered reassurance to everyone who held their breath.
Instead, she just cupped his jaw. Shadows crawled out from her hands, sinking into his skin, and suddenly, she spoke in that soft voice that had captivated him from the very first moment he’d met her.
“I am not here to hurt anyone,” she breathed. “I am here to take back what was stolen from me.”
The man gulped. “Stolen?”
She released him, her fingers lingering on his face until the very last moment, and the man leaned into her touch like he wanted those cold fingers against his cheeks for just a few moments more.
Jessamine turned to the crowd, her eyes meeting each and every one of them. “My life was taken from me. My throat was slit on the day ofmy wedding, and my mother was killed before me. I made the choice to put myself in that danger—for you. I would have married a man who left bruises on my body, believing that he could protect this kingdom. I would have sacrificed anything to keep you all safe. It waswhat he promised me.”
The last words were almost shouted, guttural and aching with her pain. He could feel it. Everyone in the square could feel it.
“I put my faith in a man who murdered me. I put my kingdom in the hands of a monster who would rip out your beating hearts to place himself on a higher pedestal. With one hand, he releases the infected into our realm, while with the other he reaches down to help you, but only to lord his offer over you all. His offer of help is a reminder that he believes you are beneath him.”
Elric let the shield around his witches drop, and his coven’s spell fell silent, but its echo remained. It was the haunting cry of women who had years of pain deep within their bodies. They had been betrayed, too. The shield turned to ash, leaving a black ring burned into the very stones of the town square alongside the runes etched by delicate hands.
The young woman who had smiled at him stepped into the circle he had created, joining the women who had so much raw magic and yet were shunned and feared. Then another woman did the same. A third.
Jessamine raised her voice higher. “I am Lady Jessamine Harmsworth, rightful heir to the throne of Inverholm. My death was only the beginning. As my soul fled my body, I heard a voice in the darkness, and it promised vengeance. It promised me that I could reclaim my kingdom if I was willing to fight for it, and I tell you now, I have never stopped fighting for any of you. You are my people. This is the soil upon which my mother’s blood was spilled, both in bringing me life and in her own death. This is the land I will fight for until my last breath and beyond.”
The crowd fell silent, entranced by the words of their princess. Elric watched as Jessamine spun her words in a web around them. “I make no false promises, nor do I exaggerate. I tell you now, in the spirit of honesty, that I am dead.”
A few people recoiled as she said the last words, but Elric could feelin his bones that she had made the right choice. Jessamine was no longer the queen they knew. She was not the princess who had won their hearts.
She was the walking dead. A nightmare who would give them everything if they begged for mercy at her feet.
Then she turned, stepping into the dark circle to stand among the women who had risked their lives for her. She trailed her fingers along their linked arms until Agnes and Elissa broke apart so she could stand in the center of their circle.
“Two hundred years ago, we feared witches… but witches have always borne the brunt of this kingdom’s fear. I am here to tell you that witches have returned. And my coven is the one that is going to save you.” Her jaw ticked, teeth grinding as she stared everyone down.
Elric had never been more proud. Even as the crowd began to shout accusations, Jessamine stood strong in the growing circle of women who looked up at her like a goddess.
“Witches caused all this!”
“Witchcraft is evil!”
“We won’t stand by your kind here!”
She took it all. Allowed their angry and heated words to flow over her. All that darkness, that real, true evil, poured over her and slid off like she didn’t even hear it.
Elric walked behind her, his wings spreading wide, providing her with all the reassurance she might need. And as he laid a hand on her shoulder, everyone stilled. They watched the god among them with fearful eyes and a mistrust that came from ancient times.
“My coven is all that stands between you and the end of all things,” he said, using his magic so his words boomed throughout the town square. “Your princess, my gravesinger, summoned me from the dead, and all who stand in my way will bend a knee. I am your god, the only god who lives. And I will make this world quake in fear if I must.”
The ground rumbled under their feet, a small hint at what he might do to them all. Not that he could. His brothers were far more connected to the earth. But Elric could make them all believe the world was shattering.
Jessamine placed her hand on his, gaining his attention with the smallest movement. When he looked down at her, she was staring at the young woman who had smiled at him. The first to step into the circle.
He could have summoned the women closer, but it was Jessamine who spoke. And he used his power to amplify what she had to say, because all in this crowd needed to listen.
“It is my greatest fear that women will forever pay for the fear of men,” she murmured. “For we are haunted and vicious beasts they could never understand. They will never know the amount of abuse it takes to be so soft. They will never understand that to tame a wild creature, she must first be broken, and it takes us years to find that wildness again. We are divine victims and wrathful fury, and both forms are worthy of worship. There is a goddess in all of us, and she cries out to be seen.”
The young woman grinned again, this time with a feral smile that reflected all those years where she should have been more powerful. She walked over to Agnes, and the witches beside her lifted their arms, tucking the newcomer in among them. Then another woman did the same. More and more women made their way forward from the crowd, until there were dozens of women all seated in a circle around Jessamine and the Deathless One. Women who had been forgotten by so many people. And women who had found their sisters at last.
