Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Kinslee POV

“What is that?” I demanded.

The object illuminated the dark tower. I felt intense power bounce off that thing.

“The obsidian diamond,” Reya confessed.

I swallowed hard. “Reya, where did you get that?”

“Is that really what you’re concerned about? It should be what I’m going to use it for.”

I held my hands up and inched closer.

“Don’t move, Kinslee!”

“Okay, okay. This isn’t you, Reya. Just put it down.”

The obsidian diamond was said to have been lost in pack wars centuries ago. Could it be possible that my father had it this entire time, and my sister stole it? It contained raw magic inside it. It could grant any wish and an unlimited amount of time, but it always came at a price. It was deadly in anyone’s hands.

“What are you going to use the stone for?” I asked.

Reya stepped forward. That’s good. I needed her to come to me. So, I had to keep her talking.

“What do you think? I’ve known about the prophecy for a long time. I knew the odds weren’t in my favour. So I tracked down the only object strong enough to get me what I want.”

“Where did you find the diamond, Reya? It’s been lost for centuries.”

She smirked. “Of course, it has. While you were attending balls with mother, I was making deals with the pack’s sorcerers.”

“There’s no way you’d do that without Leilani knowing,” I said.

Reya groaned. “You have no idea how many people hate that old bat! When I’m Alpha, she’s the first person I’m killing. I broke Father’s favourite rule, I left the pack. I travelled on the water and found the diamond.”

“You took it from another Alpha, didn’t you? That could start a war!”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care. This pack’s strong enough to defeat anyone.”

I could tell she was getting bored of this conversation already.

“So you’re going to use the diamond to remove the marks.”

“Why? That’s too easy.”

“What are you talking about? All this ends! You have the stone right there.”

“So you can go back to being daddy’s little girl and mommy’s bell? Hell no.”

“We’re twins!”

“Which is why my plan is perfect,” Reya smirked triumphantly.

“Get the stone!” My wolf ordered.

I threw myself at Reya. I knocked over the stone. She elbowed me in the gut and crawled across the room.

I grabbed her ankle and dragged her back. The stone rolled under a chair.

“I don’t care what your plan is, but it won’t work.”

I connect my fist with her face. I caught her nose, and blood pooled out of her nostrils. I stood. It pained me to hurt her, but Reya had gone too far.

“That’s what you think,” she rasped.

She roared, and then pain cut through my ankle. I stumbled to the side. The silver blade in her hand shone. A trail of blood stained the wooden floor. I watched in horror as Reya grabbed the diamond.

“By the power in this stone, under witness of the moon, give me what is mine. Switch these marks and distort what everyone sees and make it permanent!”

“Reya! No!”

The diamond burned like a fallen star. The light left no corner of the tower untouched. There was nowhere to hide. The brand new mark began to reinvent itself. I cried out during the shift. My wolf howled in pain. She had no choice but to retreat into the corner of my mind.

“Don’t leave me,” I begged. I remained rooted to the spot as magic from the diamond recreated the mayari mark.

There was no point. My wolf was gone.

The light diminished. I panted and attempted to recollect my disoriented thoughts. I turned to the mark on my shoulder. It went from a beautiful blue moon to a red serpent eating itself.

Reya stroked the mark of Mayari on her shoulder. “It worked! Now you have the mark of Morrigana.”

“Mother and Father won’t fall for this,” I panted.

“That’s what you think. I’m going to tell them the truth. I’ll tell them I received the mark of Morrigana, and you got the mark of Mayari. I’ll tell them how devastated I was and hopeless that I had no choice but to take my own life.”

My eyes turned to saucers. She can’t be serious about this.

She dug into her pocket again and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “I even wrote up my own suicide letter.” She tossed the paper at my feet. “I tell them what horrible parents they were and how unloved I felt. All that nonsense. I’m really laying on the guilt factor. It’ll be nice to watch them suffer.”

My heart pounded so hard I felt faint.

“You’re insane.”

I ran to the door. Reya reached it before me and removed the key.

“I’m glad you wanted to come to the tower, and I didn’t have to force you. You were always so naïve and kind. Pathetic! You don’t deserve Raiden. You don’t deserve a pack as huge as his. More importantly, with you out of the way, Father won’t have to decide who inherits the pack. It’ll automatically fall to me! Kinslee De Monte.”

“WHAT?”

“No one will fall for this! Raiden won’t,” I said.

“You give him too much credit. I was always very good at playing you,” Reya smirked.

“I won’t let you get away with this,” I gritted out.

“I already have.”

Reya reached for the knife. I knocked her over before she could get it. I kicked the knife, and it slid under a couch. She reached for my neck. I grabbed her wrists. We struggled for dominance. My fight instinct overpowered every feeling.

My wolf lent me her strength to overcome this situation, but Reya’s wolf did the same thing.

“Reya,” I gasped. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do.”

She shoved me back. Her wolf claws came out and grazed my neck. She paused. I felt air on my back and brushed up behind my neck.

She stared into my eyes. “Goodbye, sister.”

My lips parted and my eyes widened.

She pushed me. I reached for her shirt to keep me from falling, but it only tore off. Her victorious face was the last thing I saw before I flew out the window. There was nothing to hold on to, but so many things to regret.

I watched the tower grow taller until there was nothing left.