Chapter 754: To Remain In Their Control
Chapter 753: To Remain In Their Control
13 Days To Go
A Few Hours Before; During The Unbinding
"The man is no longer in our hold," Selith told Victoria.
"What man?" Victoria asked her with a frown.
"The one we got from the Silver Creek Pack. The one we let go to Nightshade," Selith replied to her.
Victoria was quiet for a moment. The silence stretched between them as the weight of Selith’s words settled into the air. Then Victoria’s expression hardened, and she stepped closer, her golden bracelets chiming softly with each movement.
"How did you let that happen?" she growled.
Selith shook her head slowly, her crooked fingers curling into fists at her sides. "It was unintentional. No one should have been able to break that spell. Not if they worshipped the goddess. It was not common knowledge. No one who walked the straight path should have been able to break it."
Victoria’s eyes narrowed, her gaze sharp and cutting. "I do not care about the straight path or the narrow path. What I want to know is how."
Selith’s jaw tightened, a flicker of irritation crossing her weathered features. "I do not know. Even I would need days to break that spell. There should have been something to alert us before it happened. But there was nothing."
Victoria stared at her for a long moment, her expression unreadable. The firelight from the torches flickered across her face, casting shifting shadows that made her look almost inhuman. Then she turned away, her fingers pressing against her temple as if warding off a headache.
"What are we going to do then?"
Selith straightened. "We still have the girl. We can use her."
Victoria turned back sharply, closing the distance between them. Her voice was low, dangerous, carrying a warning that made Selith’s spine stiffen.
"This is the last chance we have to do everything. The last chance we have to show everyone else that the Black Circle is more than just whispers and shadows. And you are letting our contacts break through our hold?"
Selith met her gaze, her voice calm.
She knew Victoria did not care about the Black Circle. She was just using them to get what she wanted, and the Black Circle, in turn, was using her. Once this was all done, then Victoria would be put in her place.
"It was not supposed to happen. And rather than focusing on this, we should focus on the girl. If they could get rid of the black magic in this man, then they could likely get rid of the one in the girl too. We must try to avoid that. We must ensure that the girl remains in our hold. Or everything falls apart," she told Victoria.
Victoria stared at her, and silence stretched between them, heavy and cold, broken only by the distant crackle of the torches.
Then she spoke, her voice clipped and sharp. "Then do it. I will make sure to hasten things."
She paused, her gaze sharpening. "And the false vision must happen today. I will make sure that within two weeks, we march into Nirvana."
Selith nodded slowly, her mind already racing ahead to the preparations she would need to make. "Of course."
Victoria continued. "Submit the names of the members of the Black Circle who will join us in the war. I’ll look for a way to make them warriors."
Selith inclined her head, her hands clasped in front of her. "It will be done."
Victoria turned to leave, her footsteps echoing against the stone floor. But then she stopped at the threshold, her hand resting on the edge of the doorframe.
"What will happen," she asked, "if the girl also breaks out of our hold?"
Selith was quiet for a long moment.
"I will put precautions in place," she said finally.
She doubted that would happen, though, because she was going to make the binding on the girl stronger so that whoever tried to break her free would be affected instead and risk even death.
Victoria nodded once, then walked out, her figure disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.
The chamber fell silent.
Selith stood alone among the remnants of her work, her mind already racing ahead.
There was no way she was going to let some no-names destroy her work. All the effort she had put into this could not be destroyed.
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Victoria walked through the corridor, her steps sharp. Her golden bracelets chimed with each movement, the sound grating against her nerves. The shadows seemed to press in on her, the weight of everything she had built pressing down on her shoulders.
She was annoyed.
Extremely so.
This was her chance. Her chance to prove that she was the one who should have been called by the goddess. Her chance to show the world that she was not just a leader in name, like some claimed, but that she was actually a leader. The true Luna.
She had spent years building toward this moment, ensuring that she would succeed.
And now, someone—her daughter—was threatening to take it all away.
She clenched her fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. The sharp sting of pain grounded her, focusing her thoughts.
Sophia was the key. The girl she had birthed, the girl she had shaped, the girl she had broken and remade into something useful. Everything depended on her. Without Sophia, the ritual would fail. Without Sophia, the Black Circle would lose its hold. Without Sophia, everything Victoria had worked for would crumble.
But she would be damned if she let the girl she had birthed escape her hold.
Sophia would serve her purpose. She would give Victoria what she deserved. And if she refused—if she tried to fight back—Victoria would make her pay.
She walked faster, her mind already racing with plans.
Sophia may try all she wanted, but Victoria was going to take what she was owed from her.
The girl thought she was smart. But she wasn’t. Victoria was certain that she could use her.
Perhaps if she had taken a moment to process things, she would have asked questions regarding the last conversation she had with Sophia, why this was happening if she still had control over her daughter, and why she didn’t remember what happened the last time they saw each other.
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