Shattered: The Gregorian Chronicles Book Two

25: Revenge or Love

"What was that?" Dawn yelled as she strode through the throng, her attention diverted from her sister's pathetic lover as she heard the scream of her mother echo through the courtyard. The Dark Princess had forgone any ties with her family, yet any daughter would be able to identify when her mother is in pain.

"You!" Dawn grabbed one of her soldiers by the soldier and drew her face close to his, finding a slight degree of glee in his frightened stare. "What was that scream? What has happened?"

"Your Highness, I believe the Queen has been taken into the castle! I do not know any more, I do not know!"

Dawn let go of the soldier and ignored his yelp of pain as he fell to the ground, striding towards the castle and pushing through the fighting men all around her. As she drew nearer and saw her sister just up ahead of her, a voice sounded through the crowd that seemed to cause all sound to cease.

"The Princesses would do well to give up their power before their precious mother is found dead in the palace. Troya will not be forgotten again."

Dawn stopped in her tracks and watched Adriana turn around, terror in her eyes. The Dark Princess smirked slightly and retreated back into the throng, her sister vanishing from sight as she returned to find the one Adriana loved. What did Dawn care for the Queen? She hardly cared for her own soldiers. Yes, she had been betrayed by Troya; they had led her into this battle purely to suck her power. Yet she was here; and she has to take advantage of her position while she could. Let Adriana give up her power for Lisabeth. It would be much simpler to defeat the Light Princess if she possessed no power to fight back.

***

Adriana watched as Dawn disappeared back into the sea of soldiers, most probably to go and find James. Yet Adriana knew her mother was of the most importance, and that she had to destroy this terrible group of people once and for all. They had caused Dawn to turn. They had caused this entire war to happen, and they had clearly led Dawn into the war simply to gain power for themselves, the same power they had desired when they sent Kabos to destroy the former Light Princess. Dawn would be of no use this time, and Adriana knew this was something she would be on her own for.

"You're not on your own." A voice whispered from beside Adriana as she ran up the steps to the castle. Skylar rolled her eyes as she trotted to keep up, her usual annoyance with the Light Princess' ignorance coming to the forefront once more. "I can still read your thoughts, and I still think you're incredibly foolish."

Adriana couldn't help but smile even in the dire situation at hand.

"Even your negative words can bring a smile to my face." She nodded. "Thank you Skylar."

"Don't just thank her." Rissa appeared next to the two, the King by her side. "Troya isn't going to know what hit them."

The foursome entered the castle and followed the trail of mud up to the King and Queen's bedchambers, where they could hear Lisabeth screaming for help from just beyond the door, along with men shouting.

"Remember Ad," Rissa said before they entered, "We're here to help you. You do not have to use your magic on your own."

"Thank you." Adriana nodded, looking around her before kicking the door open in the most un-ladylike way she had ever done anything in her life.

"Ah, Princess! We were hoping you would come." A tall man with dark hair bowed sardonically as Adriana entered the room.

"Adriana, leave! Get out of here, it's a trap, they knew—" Lisabeth was cut off in her warning as another, shorter man slapped her across the face and she fell to the ground.

"A trap?" Adriana rolled her eyes as she looked at the taller man. "As if someone like you could—"

"I've grown tired of this conversation." The man groaned, whining as if he were a child. "Highness, my name is Gregory and I have had the incredible pleasure of putting up with your Dark sister for the past few fortnights. I do hope that you are more like your mother than your sister; the former was much easier to subdue."

"Subdue?"

"He's taking your power." Lisabeth choked out from the floor. "He enchanted the room. You can't stop it."

"Shut it." The shorter man kicked her in the side and Lisabeth rolled to the side of the room where she laid unmoving.

"How could you enchant a room? You don't possess any power—"

"Yet we do!" Gregory laughed and clapped his hands together. "You see, you happen to not be the only magical beings in the kingdom, which you should have realized—your aunt is one of us as well." He grinned. "Sorcerers are such a rare breed, and yet—we possess the most power out of anyone else in the realm."

Adriana looked over at Rissa, unsure of how to respond to this man. Rissa shrugged slightly, her face appearing just as puzzled as Adriana felt.

"Our words have continued for far too long at this point." Gregory added, "So I will just get this over with."

He flicked his wrist in Adriana's direction and the Light Princess immediately fell to the floor, writhing in pain as she heard screams echo around her. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire; her very soul seemed to be turning itself on her. Her chest burned fiercely and her hands clutched at her stomach as the pain grew steadily worse. Her eyes were shut tight, and she could just barely make out the voices around her through the multitude of sounds ringing in her head.

"What are you doing to her?" she heard Skylar gasp.

"Draining her power." Gregory replied. "It shouldn't take long, really. The Light ones usually crack first."

"First?"

"We figured Dawn wouldn't care about her mother, so we enchanted the memory-deficient boy to transport her up here. The Dark Princess is clearly more of an advocate for revenge than for love."

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A/N: Hey guys! I should probably apologize for not updating for like two months but I always apologize so I'm just going to hope that at this point you guys aren't too fed up with my terrible upload schedule. 

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Things are about to get real heated, and someone will inevitably die within the next few chapters...I hope I don't cry while writing it. (I cry at everything) 

As always, remember to vote, comment, and check back for the next chapter! (Soon..?) Leave me a comment letting me know if anyone even pays attention to Shattered anymore, because with how often I (don't) update, I wouldn't be surprised if there are like 2 people.

I love you guys and your endless support is always so wonderful!

-Katherine