Another revenant, Noah, stepped forward and he said,
"Never mind how she got past the guards, she will know that you're here, her majesty's mother. She's like a witch with crazy abilities, she'll sense that you're here and show up, so you should leave quickly," he warned, his eyes darting around the room.
"Is that so, you think I'm a witch?" A familiar voice then drawled in seconds and all eyes including Colette's darted around the room in an attempt to find the woman.
Her eerie chuckle filled the vicinity, sounding as if she was here then there and here again.
It took several minutes for them to find her and when they did, Isabella came from around the corner, her appearance causing most of the revenants to try and disperse but she and the two guards at her side blocked them from escaping.
"Why are we leaving so suddenly, I thought we were interacting, well isn't that what you cretins were doing?" She questioned, entering the large space and thriving off of the fears of the people she often terrorized for fun.
"I see we have company," Isabella spoke again, her crystal gaze observing Colette with intrigue. "I'm surprised you made it past the citadel guards without them knowing sweetheart, then again their attention span is as sharp as a newborn, I wouldn't expect them to know anything those lazy beasts,"
Isabella swayed until she was in the centre of the small gathering of people where she stood towering over them all but her attention was to the fair brunette with the big puppy eyes that screamed innocence.
"Hello darling," she greeted Colette directly and then locked down at the beautiful dog. "And hello to you too star girl," she grinned genuinely.
The woman took a liking to the dog and not because she wanted to but because the feisty ginger and white fur coated animal claimed her first. Animals are often intuitive creatures and they know exactly who hates them only to go over to that individual and befriend them, it's what happened to her and the devil wasn't even annoyed that this beauty chose her as her pet.
"Stay away from Lottie," Colette warned and Isabella feigned her hurt. The woman touched her sparkling chest with her long fingers, her brows drawn down in an exaggerated frown.
"Why, what have I done to deserve such blatant hostility?" She mocked, her frown changing from that to a grin.
She made the revenants uncomfortable in that waking second and she fed off of that, it made her feel accomplished.
"Was there a reason you and that wretched daughter of mine showed up here, was it to surrender to the council? Was it to propitiate?" Questioned the devil. She walked around the younger woman, observing her through the corner of her eye.
At that point, Colette turned to the revenants and they glared with expectant eyes. She felt so bad being the one to bear the news but she figured that was why Adira left her there, someone needed to disclose what they learned and it made sense that it was her, she learned of it first.
"They..." She paused, thinking of how to execute what went on in her head and she panicked. Colette never had to deliver such devastating news to anyone before, so she had no clue where to start. What if the revenants got mad at her? What if they didn't believe or became hostile?
"Someone hurt Mclean... really bad," she revealed inevitably once the words were able to piece together in her head enough to make sense.
The gasps and murmurs afterwards were plentiful.
"When did that happen?"
"How could Adira let that happen?"
"Is he alright?"
"What did they do?"
"Is he here?"
Were the murmurs.
Amidst the shared truth, Isabella was genuinely taken aback as well. She knew of the man and how much he meant to Adira and to hear now that he was hurt was such a tragedy. Was that why the girls were there, to bring the man? But she only sensed the two of them thought Isabella nonchalantly glancing around.
"He's not okay.." Colette spoke and immediately she realized she was the wrong person to share such tragic news. The people would now have questions she could not answer but she did her best to explain what she garnered.
"They burnt him," she stated nonetheless and was met with the horror-paled faces of the revenants.
"You're lying, Mclean could never die like that, Adira would never allow it.
"I'm sorry," replied the girl, tears settling in her eyes yet again.
"But it's why we're here, she needed to get to the ceremonial chambers she said,"
A revenant stormed up to Colette, his crimson eyes glowed, his skin plagued by that grey hue. He looked completely different but the girl was used to that now. At first, she was so terrified of the revenants now seeing them transform was just a regular thing.
"If he was burnt then there's nothing she could do, Adira knows that!" He barked and his counterparts needed to subdue him from startling the poor girl.
"I...I had no idea," Colette continued to cry quietly.
"Shit," Isabella mumbled to herself after realizing who and what were involved in the man's death. She knew of the significance of such a thing and because of that she abruptly left the room.
Her brisk steps took her through the Manor's halls. She knew exactly where she'd find her daughter and although she had no intentions of lending help she wanted to speak a word or two to her child, advising her against the inevitable.
As the older woman raced off, Colette decided to follow her to escape being berated by questions and looks of uncertainty and grief. She needed to jog to keep up but she made sure to stay a significant distance away due to the beasts at the woman's side.
"Open that door," ordered the voice and before they were all near the ceremonial chambers.
The guards sprinted in front of them and they used their strengths to push the door to the chambers open but failed after several attempts, annoying the devil as she stood with her arms crossed.
"I'm sure if I had asked the human she would've been able to move this in a matter of seconds," said the irritable woman.
Isabella pushed the two out of her way and walked over to the door. With her pointer finger on her left hand, the woman traced the outline of the door and after all the sides were connected, they lit up. A bright light shone in their faces but it did not affect the devil.
"Aperta!" Whispered Isabella and immediately the heavy door was rooted from its hinges and thrown against the floor. Colette, the guards and the curious revenants stood in awe after seeing the door being thrown like that.
None of the people who observed the act spoke but followed in after the slender figure as she walked into the dim room.
Isabella was immediately hit with a wave of grief and before anyone else she spotted Adira at the end of the table, sitting with her hair falling in her face. Colette was second to this discovery and tried to race to her love but Isabella stretched a hand out, stopping the girl.
"I'd be very careful if I were you," She whispered. Eventually, she looked down into Colette's round face seeing the concern written in bold ink.
"Grief and shock isn't something most people handle well, let alone a devil. Give her some time or else..."
"Or else what?" Colette frowned. She yanked herself away and rushed over to the woman.
Pushing the thick hair away from her face, she cupped Adira's face, saddened by the tears that soaked her palms once she held the slender face in her hands.
Lifting her majesty's face, Colette was met with red, swollen eyes that stared at her but looked right past her. It was as if Adira saw through her rather than at her and that realization broke the girl's heart.
Colette stole a glance around the room and on the table with all the grooves and archaic writing, she saw the man's ashes spread against it. The chest his remains came in sat on the floor by her majesty's feet.
"I thought that if we were still in that short window after death where the soul is still tethered to something, I'd be able to conjure him back with just the ashes," Adira's voice croaked.
"I'm sorry you couldn't," Colette wiped the woman's tears.
"They probably did this to him hours after he left me,"
Adira bent her face into Colette and rapidly blink back the tears that stung her eyes.
The queen had never felt so much pain and rawness in centuries. The last time she'd been plagued with such heartache was around the time she became acquainted with her mother. The feelings the woman was able to invoke inside of her were an amalgamation of grief, fear, sadness, hatred, anger and regret. Now in the present, Adira experienced all those things and the need to exact revenge and or level out the playing field was great.
"It was a very unfortunate thing what happened to that man, I must say," Isabella began to say and all eyes were on her except the queen.
"However, do not fall victim to this bait, Adira and I know that you must think I have all the gall in the world to lecture you about how to handle the situation but you must already be aware of the things that will come. Your reaction to this crime will solidify whether peace reigns or death and hatred swallow us whole. Do not give in to-"
Before the woman could get any more out, the chest Mclean's ashes came in went flying towards her face. She only had a matter of seconds to step out of the way and she did in time causing the black box to smash against the wall.
By this time Adira had pulled her way out of Colette's embrace just to stand toe to toe with her mother.
"I've had enough of listening to you and every other archaic fuck on that council. I'm aware of the discrepancies surrounding this whole situation, I'm aware that from the inception people were trying to sabotage me and others but I never expected that anything would lead to this. I never saw them taking him from me,"
Adira sighed looking away.
"I will do as I please and I will start by eradicating every citadel guard on my property, then I will do the same with my adversaries, those on the council and beyond and after all that is done, I will seek you out as well," Stated her majesty.
The woman finally looked up at the people and in the doorway, she saw the revenants who were stuck in the manor and she said to them,
"Let the others know what happened to Mclean and tell those who could make it to come."
That was all she said and she then turned to the two citadel guards. The beasts looked at each other in curiosity but before they could even spare another glance her way, Adira conjured her dagger from the thin air and flung it across to them. It slit both of their throats in seconds, causing the formidable figures to fall to the ground, and they were dead upon impact.
The silence in the room was deafening and in such abject quietness, Colette observed as the queen glanced at her mother with the most cutthroat glare she'd ever seen before quietly leaving the room.