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Death, the Dropping of a Flower (That the Fruit May Swell)

She got everything she thought she wanted only to realize she lost the one thing most important

By J Shea ForrestPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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The Bloodbound Empress Alexias paced, and as she paced she pondered, over the dead body of the half-human shapeshifter known by many names. One of her greatest enemies.

he Bloodbound Empress Alexias paced, and as she paced she pondered, over the dead body of the half-human shapeshifter known by many names. One of her greatest enemies.

The Bloodbound Empress Alexias paced, and as she paced she pondered, over the dead body of the half-human shapeshifter known by many names. One of her greatest enemies.

Except, she saw it now: She loved him. Had loved him for a long time. Or should she say, had loved her? Them? No. In whatever shape or gender or species, it had always been him. The one she’d first met as the pirate John Rogue. And how could she not have seen before how she loved him?

She considered bringing him back to life. Once, she would have believed that it was really him she brought back. Now she knew, and felt bitter at the realization she’d come to thanks to him, that the soldiers she brought back were only husks controlled by demons. And she didn’t want his body with a demon controlling it. She’d rather die than have that happen.

No, she wanted him. The one who had made her laugh with his witty retorts, who had made her weep in frustration when he bypassed the clever traps she’d spent ages designing, just to come and taunt her in that infuriating way with what he’d discovered. Except she now realized: He’d always believed she could change. That she could abandon all she’d worked for and join him. Each time he’d come to tell her about another flaw in what she’d once thought of as her perfect little empire, it had been in hopes she’d tear it down and build it anew with him.

But she couldn’t do that now. There was only one thing left to do, now that she’d lost the one thing that had meant everything. The only one who had believed she could make things right again.

So she drew a deep breath, threw back her shoulders, cast off the sorrowful thoughts, and decided to do something she’d sworn long ago she’d never do: go to her other greatest enemy. She shed her resplendent clothes, removing and carefully locking up all the artifacts of protection and assorted weaponry that had been in her outfit's numerous pockets. Then she donned a plain brown shirt and soft leather pants. Funeral garb.

She snuck out of her castle, and bartered passage off her island and onto the mainland. Three days’ travel later, she landed in a city known to be sympathetic to John and John’s adoptive people, the Camberbound. The people who followed the goddess Lady Wisdom, while her people, the Bloodbound, followed only the people with the most power.

But now the most powerful of the Bloodbound, who once thought she could do anything she wanted including bring back the dead but knew now just how powerless she truly was, came before the magistrate of the city. And rather than turn him to ash as once she would have done, she instead turned herself in. A day and a half later, her twin sister, Jasmine, head of the Camberbound, stood before her.

“You’re surrendering to me? Why?” her sister said. “And why now?”

“I killed him,” Alexias whispered hoarsely. “John Rogue. I didn’t know I loved him. I loved him, and I killed him, and he’s gone. I’m here to receive what I justly deserve.”

Her sister strode quickly to her. Alexias drew in a sharp breath, closed her eyes, held herself up straight as best as she could, and braced herself physically and mentally to die. Would it hurt? She hoped so. She deserved nothing but pain for whatever remained of her life. And in the life to come, if there was one.

But instead of killing her as Alexias would have done had their roles been reversed, Jas embraced her, though her guards drew close warily. After a moment, Alexias softened in her sister’s arms, and the two of them cried.

“I loved him too,” Jas admitted through sobs.

And Alexias realized that Jas loved her, too. And maybe, just maybe, Alexias also loved her sister. “I ruined things for both of us,” Alexias whispered.

“No, Allie,” Jas said, using her childhood nickname for her sister. “We’ll get through this. And we’re going to make things better. The way they always should have been: The two of us, together.”

“Even ... even after all I’ve done?” Alexias said.

“Yes,” Jas said firmly. “You learned how to love. Now you can learn to do anything. Even change.”

Fantasy
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About the Creator

J Shea Forrest

J. Shea Forrest is the pen name of The Cambrian Crew, a group of ten people sharing a brain. They live in Missouri with their partner and emotional support dog, though sometimes it feels like they're their dog's emotional support human.

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