Light Shadows • Alec Lightwood

Thirty-Nine

If Talia hadn't been assessing every word the woman spoke, she might have missed the way Rhianne's words hung onto the Soul Sword. In a way as if she were jealous.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Talia asked, "What is the point of everything you're doing?"

"Why, isn't it obvious?" Rhianne smirked, dropping herself from the raised pedestal of the statue, tucking her hands behind her back as she leaned towards Talia, "So you know that I've won! That I found a way to beat you and you were completely useless! You lost Talia, to me."

Talia blinked, confusion lacing her features as she furrowed her brows, "You think this is a game? A competition of some kind?"

The smirk dropped.

"It's always been a competition," The shorter girl ground out, her face strained as she clenched her jaw, "I've watched you since birth and I have to be better than you, there's nothing I want more than to beat you and finally be the chosen one. And then maybe, he'll acknowledge that I was always more powerful than the Ardea Herodias."

Rhianne growled the title out in such hate that Talia bristled and stepped back, realising how close the woman had gotten to her.

The dark figure scowled at the movement and narrowed her blood red eyes. The veins protruded through the iris', turning the white's of her eyes to a dark red, making it hard to discern whether the dark haired woman was looking at Talia or beyond her. Talia guessed that it was neither, the woman was lost within her mind.

"Ardea Herodias was always the Blue Heron, a title familiar amongst leaders of the Downworld, as Valentine had once divulged his idea to them to create a greater Downworld and that the figure that would lead them would be they who held that title."

She hadn't known the truth of her name before now. Talia controlled her expression so as not to look affected by the information, especially not when Rhianne moved to continue, her arms spinning in front of her as the truth came spilling out from her Seelie lips.

"This was at a time when the Downworld was desperate, and Valentine played to that, creating a cause that they could all form behind to be equal to the Clave. And that cause came to be you."

Rhianne glared at the taller woman as Talia watched her slow movements circling her, as if she were prey.

"Malcolm Fade of the Warlocks, Praetor Scott of the Werewolves, Camille Belcourt of the Vampires and Meliorn of the Seelies were extracted of a small portion of blood to accommodate the cost of you.-

Of course, none of them knew the blood had been taken, my potions had taken care of that," She waved her hand carelessly as she moved to climb over a bench, "So, it's most likely that even they don't even realise their blood connection to you."

Finally Talia's mouth dropped. For how long had Rhianne been manipulating people? Talia recognised some of the names as people she had encountered or people she had heard from Magnus' tales of woe. None of them were weak.

"But how does that explain-?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm getting to that," Rhianne scowled, "So, you were injected with the blood from each of these Downworlders when you were a baby. Your body took so well to it because you were still in the early developing stages of growth, so your DNA appeared to be more receptive to foreign objects - not only that, but your blood was already laced with Downworlders."