"I should kill you right here. It is the least you deserve for all the trouble you caused." Circe said, already eager to call on her magic once more.
Dena forced herself upright despite the damage Circe had inflicted on her. Her body trembled from the strain and she swayed slightly where she stood, but pride would not allow her to collapse again. Every breath she drew was labored, every movent stiff with pain, yet she straightened her spine as if sheer stubbornness could hold her together.
Pride had always been Dena’s greatest strength. Now it was the only thing keeping her on her feet.
"You are upset." Dena said, breathing slowly through the agony humming through her battered body. She still felt the lingering shock of being slamd into the unforgiving ground monts ago. "All that rage... and it is on behalf of the sa vampires that cheered the fall of your kingdom and celebrated your capture."
A faint smile curled at the corner of her mouth despite the blood on her lips.
"Look at you," she continued hoarsely. "Fighting for a man that tore down your ho with his own hands. He killed your people, Circe. And here you are, fighting on his side like a fool—"
The insult died halfway out of her mouth.
Dena’s hand suddenly flew to her throat.
A strangled sound tore from her chest as her body jerked violently. Her fingers clawed at her neck as though sothing invisible had wrapped itself around it. She gasped, but no air ca. Her eyes widened in dawning terror as air refused to reach her lungs.
Thin black veins began to creep up the sides of her neck.
They spread slowly at first, like cracks forming beneath the skin, before branching outward in jagged lines that crawled toward her jaw and temples. Each desperate attempt to breathe made them darken further.
Dena’s knees buckled.
She dropped to the ground with a harsh thud, gasping harder now, the sounds wet and broken. Her chest heaved violently.
Circe had not touched her. Yet she could feel it. She felt her magic moving through Dena’s body like a living thing. It slipped into her throat, tightened around her windpipe, and sealed it shut. With a single pulse of anger, Circe had unleashed her power and now it obeyed her completely.
She had not even known she could do this. But the magic responded eagerly, surging through her veins as if it had been waiting for permission.
Dena’s struggles grew frantic. Her shoes scraped against the dirt as she writhed on the ground, one hand clutching her throat while the other dug desperately into the earth. Her gasps beca harsher, more desperate, the sound of soone slowly suffocating.
Her face turned a deep shade of red. Then purple.
Circe stood over her, unmoving. Her anger had burned so fiercely monts ago that she had barely felt the magic leave her. Now it flowed steadily through her, cold and controlled, feeding the invisible grip crushing Dena’s throat.
Dena’s movents began to weaken.
Her hand slowly slid away from her neck as the strength drained from her limbs. Her fingers trembled as she reached out toward Circe.
"Please..." she forced out, the word barely more than a rasp.
Her lips had begun to turn blue. The veins on her temples bulged as her body fought desperately for air that would never co.
Circe stared down at her. This was not the punishnt she had imagined when she had thought of Dena’s death. Even as the rage churned inside her chest, sothing else flickered beneath it. Pity.
"I can still let you live," Circe said calmly. "All you have to do is lift the magic keeping those people trapped here and answer my questions honestly. Start by telling where my brother and husband are."
Dena’s eyes burned with hatred as she stared up at her.
"Tell where my mother is," Circe finished.
For a mont, Dena only wheezed weakly.
Then her expression twisted into a snarl.
With the last breath still trapped in her failing lungs, she forced the words out one at a ti.
"I... would... rather... die."
Circe did not even blink.
"Very well then," she said quietly. "Your death it is. A sha, truly. You were a decent teacher."
Circe raised her hand. Her magic answered instantly. The invisible force around Dena’s throat tightened.
For a brief mont, Dena’s body jerked violently as the last air in her lungs was crushed out of her. Her eyes widened in one final flash of defiance—
Then the struggle stopped. Her chest fell still. The tension drained from her limbs and her body collapsed limply against the ground.
Silence followed. Circe kept her guard raised as she stared down at the motionless figure before her. Waiting. She was expecting her to suddenly gasp back to life, to rise and strike again.But the woman did not move.
She never would again. Because Dena was dead. And she had killed her.
Then, right before her eyes, Dena’s body began to flicker in and out of existence. Once. Twice. And then, without warning, it vanished from sight altogether, leaving behind nothing but empty air where she had been standing monts before.
A mont passed, and Circe could only stare in stunned disbelief, her eyes wide as she tried to comprehend what she had just witnessed.
Where had Dena’s body gone?
But no answer ca. The silence stretched for several long seconds until Circe finally let out a shaky breath. Yet the mont the breath left her lungs, a violent tremor tore through the entire cave, shaking the ground beneath her feet like it was preparing to collapse inward. The rumbling was deafening.
The tremors were so intense that several chunks of rock broke loose from the ceiling above. They plumted downward like deadly projectiles, smashing against the cave floor with explosive cracks that echoed through the tunnels.
Circe jerked into motion imdiately, instincts taking over. She darted forward in search of cover, her heart hamring wildly in her chest.
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