The Battle of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book Two

Chapter Thirty-Eight

With a sick heart, I swung the sword at her but missed. The illusion of my mother shattered, and in her place was Emerlee. Behind her, the wall also faded away, and I saw that what I thought was a dead-end was the place I needed to be. Sitting on a throne in the center of a glittering cavern was Joseph. At either side of him sat Parson and Marisol.

Crumpled at Joseph's feet was Dimini.

Joseph had truly outdone himself with the throne. There was more bling on it than a rapper's watch. It was made of a silvery metal that I was sure was platinum. The chair had a row of sharp, dagger-like diamonds the size of my fist bordering the legs and around the backrest. More diamonds glittered on the armrests, but these were flat. I probably could have sold that chair and fed a small, starving nation for years, and that made me angrier. 

"Give me that sword!" Emerlee hissed as she lunged at me. She didn't look good. Her skin was gray, and her hair looked dull and lifeless. She'd done away with looking human and had a snake body from her navel down. The side frills on her neck were unfurled and faded. Pieces of snakeskin hung off her, and the same filmy look was in her eyes. She was dying, and I knew who'd put her in that state.  She was a fool to have partnered with Joseph. He killed everyone he touched, like a poisonous, beautiful bloom. 

I parried against her lunge, and the flat of my sword burned her, making her slither back with a howl. She held her hand against the reddened flesh and hissed again, then spit at me.

I lept out of the way of her spit and swung my blade, and it connected and sliced her belly.  With a cry, she clutched at the wound then collapsed. "I hate you..." she hissed.

I stepped around her, holding my sword out in case she tried anything funny. "I know."

"He was mine!" She spat again, but it dribbled harmlessly from her lips, but she no longer had the strength to make it carry. "He was going to be the means to bring the nagas out of infamy!"

"And your choices hurt the nagas. Luke didn't do anything wrong. Everyone has a choice who they like." I looked at the trio behind her; they were laughing at this pathetic creature.

"What did you do to yourself, Emerlee?" I couldn't believe that she'd gotten into such a state in only a week. 

She laughed hollowly, "Joseph promised me one last chance to kill you and win my place. My soul is lost if I fail."

"So now you're what, a ghoul? Vampire?"

She said nothing, just glared.

"Who has your soul, Emerlee? Joseph?"

She flinched, and I realized he'd taken another victim into his schemes.

"I have nothing left to kill you because I used the last of my venom in that blast..." She sounded so forlorn that I felt a twinge of pity, even though she'd been trying to murder me. "You robbed me of everything!"

"Joseph robbed you. If you'd stayed a living villain, you would have had way more success in making life miserable for me. Now you're just sad."

Joseph applauded slowly as he stood up. He kicked Dimini, who rolled forward and moaned. The Lunantisidhe was still alive somehow, but his wings were torn from his back, and it was unlikely he'd ever fly again.

Parson and Marisol wore twin smug expressions. I stepped around Emerlee and walked forward while looking Joseph up and down.

He looked much the same as he had when I first met him, except more haggard. He still had those blond pinup boy looks, but his face was grayer, and his eyes more hollow. The hand I'd injured was encased in a black glove.