Bound, but never broken.
Finally, it’s over.
For days now, that singular thought has occupied the leader of the emperor’s coven’s mind. The sheer sense of relief and jubilation is… refreshing.
Stood atop the ramparts of the emperor’s castle. Looking down on the bridge where it finally ended, she can’t help but let a slight smile pass over her pale face. All the fighting, the chasing and the frustration . It’s all over, Eda’s where she belongs and she’s finally in the coven and she’s safe and-
“What troubles your mind, Lilith?” Thankfully nobody is around to hear Lilith’s squeak of surprise as a voice oh so rudely shakes her from her thoughts.
“Kikimora.” She greets the small red demoness, “What brings you here?”
“I believe my question precedes yours, dear Lilith.”
Lilith answers, turning away so the brat can’t see her rolling her eyes. “Just, everything is finally as it should be. Edalyn’s where she belongs after all these years.”
“Ah yes, you managed to apprehend your sister, well done.” Kikimora replies, in that very same monotone voice with just the tiniest hint of smugness that makes Lilith wish she wasn’t the emperor’s right hand so Lilith could blast her into oblivion.
“That does bring me quite neatly onto my reason for being here, you see some of the guards have reported the owl lady saying some unfavourable things about the emperor, if he were to hear those I’d imagine he’d be quite displeased. Wouldn’t you think?”
That makes Lilith freeze, before anger blossoms in her chest. Of course . Nothing could ever be easy with Eda, but she refused to let years of blood, sweat and tears be put to waste just because her stupid little sister couldn’t keep her mouth shut about the emperor.
“Lilith?” Kikimora’s infuriating voice rings out again. And Lilith slowly releases the white knuckled grip on her staff as she takes a few deep breaths.
“I’ll handle it, thank you for bringing it to my attention.”
“See to it that you do.” Kikimora says as Lilith moves back into the castle. headed towards the sanctum’s lowest reaches.
The dungeons.
This is where they keep the rogue witches until they are ready to join a coven. Taking up at least of a third of the castle’s lower reaches, the dungeons are simply massive. Gigantic black stone halls filled with cage after cage, crammed with hundred if not thousands of vagrants and law breakers from across the isles.
Lilith’s destination is lower still, to the truest blackest pits where escape is impossible.
Finally she arrives, the lowest reaches of the emperor’s castle, where her sister is kept. A wooden gate stands before her, guarded by two of the coven’s best. Beyond that is her prison’s cell.
The obsidian cage it is called, said to have housed only one prisoner prior to Eda being locked in, a massive circular black stone room covered in ancient and powerful runes not even she has deciphered. It is simply put, impenetrable.
The moment they notice her, the two guards stand at attention, though a simple wave of her hand makes it clear there is no need to.
“Miss Lilith, are you here to speak to the prisoner?” One of them speaks, and she nods.
“Yes, I am here to speak to my sister. Would you mind giving us some privacy?”
“Yes, miss Lilith.” Both reply without question, marching back up the winding stairs.
Now that leaves only one thing. Lilith’s hand rests upon the massive door’s lock, reciting the incantation to open it. But she doesn’t push it open. Something stills her hand from pushing the door aside and stepping in.
She realizes quickly enough what causes her apprehension. She’s not seen Eda since she was carted off into the dungeons, still shrieking and thrashing against her bindings as a curse beast.
What if she’s still that, that thing.
He doesn’t want to cure me, he wants to control me. Eda’s voice rings through her head like a bell. But she shakes herself of that silly notion quite quickly. The emperor himself had promised to take care of that.
No, Lilith supposes that the option that her sister is in there, that is the thing that has her hesitate.
Her sister, who undoubtedly is going to scream and swear and rage at her. Who after nearly two decades of wondering has finally found out the reason for her curse being her own flesh and blood. Who fought tooth and claw to save a mere human , going as far as to sacrifice herself for the upstart.
Lilith steels her nerves, whatever waits beyond that door, she can handle it. So she takes a breath, and steps into the room.
It’s massive, compared to the other cells, there’s no bars and shackles, hell there’s even a bed off in the corner, surely a welcome change from sleeping in a nest for years.
She holds up her staff, the raven’s head glowing with a faint blue light as she steps further into the cell, her footsteps echoing through the stone room as she moves forward.
Suddenly the sound of her feet isn’t the only one, whirling around she comes face to face with-
Her staff clatters to the ground, hands covering her mouth as her eyes burn with tears.
Edalyn’s standing in front of her, that mane she calls a haircut is that same fiery orange again instead of the streaked white it’s been for 18 years, her wrinkles are gone, replaced with smooth skin that makes her look like the younger sister she is.
“Eda.” She chokes out, suddenly everything she was going to say is unimportant.
Her little sister’s okay.
Voice thick with tears, she’s barely able to choke out a “C’mere.” as she steps forward, eyes blurry from tears that streak down her face. Arms outstretched as she steps forward to sweep her sister up in a hug.
As her arms close however, it’s only air they touch. Lilith’s eyes open confusedly, before snapping up just in time to see Eda, fist cocked back and murder in her eyes.
The next thing she knows, she’s facing the singular lamp on the cell’s ceiling, a touch to her face reveals that her nose is indeed broken, the lower half of her face is covered in dried up blood.
Two quick spells later she’s good as new, well. Almost . Eda had gotten her good.
Wait, Eda . Her eyes flick over to the door. Her blood runs cold, no. nonononono-
It’s still open. The emperor is going to kill her for this failure.
“Over here.”
She releases a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, as she looks over to the shadowy form of Edalyn sitting on the bed, in one of the darker corners of the cell.
“Wh- what? Why didn’t you run.” Lilith can’t help but mutter out as her little sister stands up from the bed, her own ivory staff clutched within the redhead’s hands.
“Well, my magic’s been sealed.” Eda says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Whilst pointing to the glyphs on her arms. The ones Lilith had cast on her before presenting her to Belos. “And even I don’t think I can make it all the way up there without my magic.”
Lilith slowly stands up off of the ground as her sister comes to a stop before her.
A flash, and suddenly her own staff is at her throat. The raven’s pointed wings dig into her skin as Eda’s eyes seem to light up with a fire that makes her skin crawl. “What are you doing with that thing, you can’t use magic.”
Eda snorts. “Long stick with sharp bits at the end, I don’t need magic to use this thing.”
“Also.” Her sister says, voice dangerously monotone. “Figured this was the only way I’d get some answers out of you.” The pressure on her throat increases as Eda drives the staff deeper. “Start talking.”
Suddenly the pressure is gone, the staff back at Eda’s side as she glares at her, tapping her foot impatiently.
“Well?”
“Wh- what do you mean, the curse?”
“No I’m asking if you’ve met any cute boys lately- OF COURSE I MEAN THE CURSE.” Eda shouts, and Lilith takes another step back at the outburst.
“Why Lily.” She adds, and Lilith’s heart breaks. A million apologies never uttered, a thousand confessions never made rush through her mind like a stampede of wild animals. Driving her to the edge as tears begin to prickle at the edge of her vision once more.
“I- I was a stupid kid, okay? You were running circles around everyone with magic, and you were always oh so eager to rub it in our faces. I… I’d had it okay? The humiliation, being reduced to merely Edalyn’s sister after working my ass off for every scrap of recognition I could get.”
She doesn’t notice the blood trickle down her hands from where her nails dig into her palms, too caught up on choking every single word out from between unwilling lips. Eyes not meeting Eda’s.
“I mentioned it once, being sick of always playing second fiddle to you, and Gwen mentioned something that could help-
“Wait, Gwen? As in Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn Blight? ” Eda interrupts, Lilith merely gives a shaky nod back.
“An-anyways. She mentioned something, a spell. A curse . Something that was supposed to slow down your growth. Bring you down to our level . She said, I never could have imagined the true extent. I- I can’t begin to say how sorry I am.”
Despite the tears streaming down her face, despite the blood in her hands and the sheer disgust she feels at herself. She can’t help but feel some measure of relief, the truth is finally out in the world. There’s an invisible weight that lifts off of her shoulders.
She drops to her knees, the weight of the confession buckling her legs from under her. She begins talking, no. Begging. Hoping that her little sister will understand.
“ I probably don’t deserve it. But now that you’re where you belong. Will you give me a chance, please Eda. Will you forgive me?”
“No.”
Her head snaps up at that, looking into Eda’s eyes. She looks devastated, and she can see streaks of dried tears. But her eyes, they are ice.
“Wh-what do you mean? No?”
“And people call you the smart one, you asked for forgiveness, questions usually can have multiple answers. Sis .” The way that last word is spat out with nothing short of disgust makes her recoil.
But Eda’s only getting started. The ice melts within a seconds, and a spark lights in her eyes. One that flares up into an inferno that Lilith can only stare into and hope not to be consumed by. As the younger witch stalks over to her, like a predator moving in for the kill.
“You really think that’s gonna be enough? I was sixteen Lilith. I was a kid!”
I did that to her.
“I know, and I’m so sorry -” Lilith tries to get a word in, but Eda pins down with a glare so fierce she feels like she’s staring at the emperor at his most furious.
“YOU THINK SORRY IS ENOUGH ?” Eda snaps. And the walls shake . “Do you know what that curse did to me? Lily? Do you have any idea what it’s like? To fear hurting the people you care about, to live on a timer? To wonder if today is gonna be the last day, to spend days screaming in agony because you didn’t shift back correctly? To black out and spend weeks wondering if you hurt anyone? Killed anyone? And to live with that for. Eighteen. Years?!”
“I- I…” Lilith tries. But Eda takes a step forward, and she scrambles backwards. The staff is back at her throat again. “But that’s not the worst thing you did.”
Not the worst? How could anything be worse than the curse, it’s something Lilith has regretted for over 18 years, how is it not the worst thing she’s done to Eda.
“You. Hurt. My. Kid. ” Every word the staff digs in deeper, Lilith’s breath running short as she is all but forced against the floor. Magic lights up in her palm but she stops it.
Kid? Her eyebrows furrow.
“The human?” Despite the situation, Lilith can’t help but scoff. “What’s it with your obsession with it-” She can’t finish her sentence as the staff digs into her throat even deeper, drawing blood.
“ She. Has a name. It is Luz. And you tried to kill her.” Lilith can see the frustration in Eda’s eyes, her arms shaking as she fights against something. Before she pulls the staff away from her sister’s throat. Throwing it aside as she takes a step back.
“A child, a fourteen year old girl, a girl with more passion and love in her heart than I’ve seen in anyone . And you would have killed her without batting an eye.” The way Eda looks at her as she says it, it makes her feel like she’s the lowest filth in the world.
“A child.” She says again, and Lilith averts her gaze. “How can you even look at yourself in the mirror, it’s beyond me.”
Lilith doesn’t say anything. Staring at one particular spot on the floor as she lets Eda let her know just what she thinks.
“Well, I hope you’re happy with yourself. All of this for nothing.” Edalyn spits turning away and sitting down on her bed.
What? For nothing? Does Edalyn not understand the position she’s in, how grateful she should be to Belos for saving her life?
“What, you thought I’d just roll over and come crawling back just because I’m no longer cursed? The redhead scoffs. “As if, y’know. I do wonder how long Belos will humour all of this. If I won’t fall in line.”
Lilith catches on immediately. “You’re bluffing.” She says from between clenched teeth.
“Am I?” An eyebrow shoots up, as if saying “Try me.”
“Y- you have to be. Does your life mean so little to you?”
“You have an odd perception about what does, and what does not matter to me, Lily.” Edalyn smirks. crossing her arms in an all too smug victory pose considering she’s talking about dying to simply spite her sister.
“You’d throw your life away, now that you finally have a chance to live it to the fullest. Emperor Belo-”
“Emperor Belos currently has me locked up in a dungeon . With the only options being join him or die. I’m not feeling all too generous, if you know what I mean?”
A beat. And then Edalyn scoffs. “Of course you don’t, you’ve been so brainwashed into being Belos’ little lapdog you don’t even know how to think for yourself anymore. Just get out of here Lily, I can’t bear the sight of you.”
Lilith rises to her feet, summoning her staff to her. “In time you will realize this folly of yours. But I will respect your wish, sister of mine.” With that she makes her way out of the cell.
Eda’s voice calls out to her, as she’s just about to move through the doorway.
“Don’t call me sister, you lost that right.” The sheer venom in the voice freezes the leader of the emperor’s coven in her track. And she can’t help but ask.
“When?”
“When you tried to kill my daughter .”
The raven haired witch whirls around, eyes wide. Only to meet the scornful gaze of her redheaded sister.
She doesn’t say another word. Slamming the door shut behind her and reciting the spell to seal it once more. There is but one thought on her mind as she ascends the steps again, past the wailing masses of prisoners and the guards.
She needs to find this Luz, she’s the key to Eda’s compliance.
And find the human she will, whatever it might take.
She owes their mother that much.
--Meanwhile, the obsidian cage.
The talk with her sister had answered a few questions, yet at the same time made her ask two dozen more.
It had however done one thing, it had made up her mind more than she herself ever could.
Running away wasn’t enough anymore. Belos would never stop until he had her within his clutches.
Fortunately for her, Belos had shown one of his rare moments of sentimentality . Undoing her curse before having her allegiance, likely to earn Lilith’s favour. As if he didn’t have the raven haired witch eating out of the palm of his hand already.
With her curse gone, Eda could feel the magic within her pulsing, her magic powers swelling to unprecedented levels as nearly two decades worth of built up power flowed into her. A dam had burst, and the owl lady would make sure that Belos drowned in the surge.
But to do that, she needed access to her magic, and with these glyphs on her arms she couldn’t.
But that’s where once again, her sis- Lilith had come in clutch. Lilith was an excellent witch in her own right, but old magics were something she’d never bothered to learn.
Thankfully Eda had, and she had a very handy glyph. One that could undo any magical seal.
The catch? It had to be drawn in the blood of the person who cast the seal in the first place, but once again. Lilith had come in clutch, and one such rune was currently drawn on the bottom of her bed.
Now she needed only to buy her time, and knowing Luz. She wouldn’t have to wait long
“Please Luz, stay safe.”
The guards would probably be here with her food, two meals a day, an extreme luxury when it came to prisoners housed here.
Still, she probably could get a few hours of sleep in, gods know she needed them.
The first die had been cast, the first battle had been fought.
They think they’ve won, that she’s beaten and at their mercy.
She knows it’s different.
It’s only just begun.