They were after her. Victorine wanted nothing more than to put an extremely large amount of distance between herself and Rainer. And so she spirited despite her exhaustion, making her legs lead, and her train of thought sluggish as if coated in treacle.
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But she was never going to outrun Valkyries, who were rapidly closing the distance. Until she felt her feet being yanked away from the ground by strong arms.
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“N-no...NO! Get off me this instant!” The Grand Vizier demanded harshly, attacking the arms with her nails in desperation.
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“Thy wish is my command, Viscountess. Put Miss Victorine Elizabeth Ego down, please Montauge, there’s a good lad.” Rainer could not believe his luck. He would not even have to search for Malum. This woman would lead him directly to the Earl’s location.
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Light footsteps could be heard.
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Valerie appeared from around the corner, drenched in blood and sweat but otherwise unharmed despite fighting the gaurds by herself when they refused to obey her. A stolen Æther acceleration rifle was slung over her back despite being so long that the shiny barrel jutted out above her head comically because such weapons were intended for use by very large men who could handle the recoil.
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“YOU!” Was the first thing that Victorine told the younger sister that she had not seen for sixty-six years and would have likely been longer due to the unwanted inability to age.
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“Sister. Have thou heard the news about Celeste?” Valerie asked her sarcastically and with unadulterated rage in her voice.
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“What? She is safe in Estrin!”
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“No she was stabbed to death by the same person that took the new Khagan hostage! You sent her there, the same way that Lyra was sent to the executioner, because she refused to put up with Malum's paranoid nonsense! Just like I would have been married off or killed if I was caught; you turned on all of thy siblings bar him.”
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A single tear rolled down her cheek. She caught it on her tongue. It was salty: much like the salt that Valerie was rubbing into old wounds.
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She had never been able to forgive herself for what happened to Lyra Charlene Ego...or her parents, and yet she had stood by and let it happen out of misplaced loyalty to family.
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“I...”
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Rainer saw the chance to force his will on her. “Will take us to Earl Malum's Chambers.”
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Her expression turned to one of horror at this. She became more anxious the longer this went on.
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“Please...he is not well. He never was. Why must I do this?” She begged tearfully as she recalled just how bad her brothers health had gotten
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Rainer drew a sidearm out and pointed it squarely between Victorine's green eyes, which tried to look at every but the gun, but all she did was laugh.
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“That will not scare me, I am doomed in more ways than I ever thought possible..”
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She began to take them to Malum. Past all the paintings, statues, banners, and weapons.
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Until they reached the Earl's Chambers. The door was ajar.
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One of Rainers men kicked it down regardless. But the room was seemingly empty.
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The officer turned rebel seethed when he could not see Malum. “Where is he?” He hissed
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Victorine swallowed and called out for him. “Y-Your Eminence?”
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From behind a curtain, a figure in a wheelchair trundled out.
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Earl Malum Ego health was just not good. The man looked half dead already.
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His eyes were sunken into his face and glowed deep purple due to the Thaumaturgy usee to anchor him to Æonex. His hair was thin, white, and brittle. His skin seemed hard and soft simultaneously, and his mouth was twisted into an expression of intense pain. Hands were not of flesh and blood, but rather of brass, gears, and Æther. His legs seemed locked in place somehow and had withered and turned a sickly, stone-like grey. The silk nightwear he wore fit the only the title, not the man. A black mask was attached to the chair – which appeared to be powered by motors linked to his hands and possibly brain. But worst of all were the tumour-esque growths of bone that covered him and were concentrated densely at the knees and elbows to the point that it was one solid mass of bone.
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Raspy breathing was the only true sign that this man was even alive. Until, that is, he coughed weakly and reached for the mask.
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Even the Valkyries were frozen in fear of the man.
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Malum sucked greedily at what must have been oxygen. He turned his head to look directly at them all, his glowing eyes only blinking because of a contraption embedded in his face.
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“Hello Valerie, surprised to see me?” The Earl asked in a voice that completely flat monotone voice that was a far cry from the rich baritone that she remembered him flirting with just about anyone female he met.
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“What th-“ someone began.
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“it’s not fair... Celeste, Lyra, Victorine, and Valerie inherited our mothers beauty. I got the same green eyes and great-great grandmother Nyctra's bloody disease! Killing me would be a mercy I will, without a doubt, never deserve, but I want to tell my story, address the people of my beloved and glorious Worcester, and look t-that....that bastard Æonex in the eye as I wheel myself off the balcony.”
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“Thou must not!” sobbed his sister and only sibling that did not hate his guts.
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“Vic....I will take thou with me....or...-or else he will do onto you exactly what he has done to me.”
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Rainer and Valerie were disgusted with themselves for feeling pity for the man with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people on his hands.
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Victorine....her thoughts would permanently induce crippling melancholia in anyone that knew about them.
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