The Prophesy Tower. Chapter 65. Write a Novel Challenge.

Neina’s mind galloped with questions. And, although her brain sprinted, her heart halted; startled by the discovery. Or rather, the severe lack of one.

It was the slow, dreading kind of realisation. The one that takes a while to settle in. The kind that she didn’t want to believe in. It started with the numbing of her fingertips and then proceeded to produce waves of shivers in her stomach. But then the quivering aimed for her heart and she was helpless. Her breaths struggled to sing, and instead, she let out whispers of a desolate, desperate tune. She was wholly engulfed by the revelation. There was nothing. It was gone.

She didn’t dare look at the Queen. She didn’t dare look at anything but the compartment. She couldn’t. Neina was oblivious to the questions the Queen asked, ignorant to anything but the confusion and shock coursing through her.

That is until she heard a snide yet strained chuckle from behind her. Neina knew it was a sound she’d heard before. With shivers wildly waltzing down her spine, she spun.

The first thing Neina saw was her papers. These were sheets that she had marked with strokes of precision and formulated with nothing short of pure ambition. The files that had kept her sanity anchored when all else in her world was drowning. She would know them anywhere.

The larger issue at hand was the person clutching those papers.

Isla cocked her blonde head back, her cunning eyes skimming the room. Enraged, they glinted at the sight of Queen Orla; instantly accompanied by her fingers, which tightened around the Prophecy Tower plans. A moment passed and her eyes decided to continue their lingering trail, now fixating on Neina.

With deliberate confidence, Isla strutted towards her, lips painted into a catlike sneer. She tightened her free hand around Neina’s wrist, nails digging into smooth, unblemished ebony skin. With bitterness, Isla parted her lips, articulating with a dangerous softness to her voice. Calculated cruelty only Isla herself could master. Her grip tightened.

“You thought you could beat me,“ Isla purred, her eyes drilling holes into Neina’s forehead. “But you forgot one thing…” Her nails dug in deeper, bruising the delicate skin around Neina’s wrist.

A sigh escaped Neina’s lips; a sound that could only be compared to the shattering of glass. Neina felt her nose warm-up and she knew it was turning redder with every passing second. She knew she was about to break. It wasn’t going to be a clean break either. It felt as though every singular strand of her sanity was being obliterated with excruciating hesitance. The one person she detested the most held her dreams in one hand and her wrist in another.

Isla’s deceptively sweet breath grazed the lobe of her ear as Neina shut her eyes, saline tears clinging in desolation to her lashes.

Every single ounce of determination fled from Neina at that second. She felt so delicate. Fragile. Weak. She felt so human. She was not the girl made of stars anymore.

“You forgot,” Isla repeated faintly, her gaze softening and fingers loosening, “that I’m on your side.”

Bewilderment swept into Neina’s eyes, morphing her features with disorientation. Steadying herself against her desk, she focused on Isla, certain that what she had just heard was a figment of her imagination leading her astray. Yet, nothing changed. Isla’s expression was, although slightly begrudging, one of raw earnestness. She continued, explaining her statement.

“Orla is the one that wanted you dead, Neina. This pathetic excuse of a woman that you have managed to so readily follow is the same woman that imprisoned you. She tortured you. Do you remember none of that? She was the one that sent Charlotte and me after you. Everything that has occurred, has done so because of her.”

Nina’s eyes flitted; from Orla to Isla and then back to Orla again, this time holding the Queen’s gaze.

The Queen snorted; a dismissive, derisive noise, one that was an attempt to signal the absolute absurdity of the situation. Yet, it was at odds with the callous, derelict smile plastered onto her vermilion mouth. She made no effort to move.

Isla glanced back as her tone become more urgent.

“Neina, you are the one mentioned in the prophecy. Orla is going to kill us all, no matter what. She has been lording over a throne that doesn’t belong to her. Her greed has driven her to take control of your life and she has happily complied with whatever it takes to meet her endless need for power. She will hurt anything, and anyone. Your friends, your family, your fiancé. I want to end this too. I want her to stop tearing apart the livelihoods of innocent people. Ryder and Frankie have been safe with me. Charlotte too. They’re some of the only people you have left. I won’t let her harm them; I won’t let her harm you. We both need each other, Neina. You need your life back and I need my throne…”

“Enough. That is enough. Stop.” The animosity in the Queen’s order resounded around the room, bouncing like the snap of a whipcrack. If eyes were truly the window to the soul, hers would consist of nothing more than dotted vehemence and inked hatred. The Queen had discarded the gentle facade she had fabricated earlier and was now the same woman that Neina had witnessed when she had been condemned to the dungeons. The fire grew within Queen Orla and her words came out more honeyed than ever before.

“If you don’t do as you have been told, only one of us is going to make it out of here.”

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The Prophesy Tower – A Novel.

To read Chapter 1, click here.

To read Chapter 2, click here.

To read Chapter 3, click here.

To read Chapter 4, click here.

To read Chapter 5, click here.

To read Chapter 6, click here.

To read Chapter 7, click here.

To read Chapter 8, click here.

To read Chapter 9, click here.

To read Chapter 10, click here.

To read Chapter 11, click here.

To read Chapter 12, click here.

To read Chapter 13, click here.

To read Chapter 14, click here.

To read Chapter 15, Click here.

To read Chapter 16, click here.

To read Chapter 17, click here.

To read Chapter 18, click here.

To read Chapter 19, click here.

To read Chapter 20, click here.

To read Chapter 21, click here.

To read Chapter 22, click here.

To read Chapter 23, click here.

To read Chapter 24, click here.

To read Chapter 26. click here.

To read Chapter 27, click here.

To read Chapter 28, click here.

To read Chapter 29, click here.

To read Chapter 30, click here.

To read Chapter 31, click here.

To read Chapter 32, click here.

To read Chapter 33, click here.

To read Chapter 34, click here.

To read Chapter 35, click here

To read Chapter 36, click here.

To read Chapter 37, click here.

To read Chapter 38, click here.

To read Chapter 39, click here.

To read Chapter 40, click here.

To read Chapter 41, click here.

To read Chapter 42, click here.

To read Chapter 43, click here.

To read Chapter 44, click here.

To read Chapter 45, click here.

To read Chapter 46, click here

To read Chapter 47, click here.

To read Chapter 48, click here.

To read Chapter 49, click here.

To read Chapter 50, click here.

To read Chapter 51, click here.

To read Chapter 52, click here.

To read Chapter 53, click here.

To read Chapter 54, click here.

To read Chapter 55, click here.

To read Chapter 56, click here.

To read Chapter 57, click here.

To read Chapter 58, click here.

To read Chapter 59, click here.

To read Chapter 60, click here.

To read Chapter 61, click here.

To read Chapter 62, click here.

To read Chapter 63, click here.

To read Chapter 64, click here.

To read Chapter 65, click here.