Page 11 of Rapunzel Unchained

There is no justice in punishing innocent people just because they were born mages. They couldn’t help that they were born into this world.

And yet they do nothing to stop the mistreatment of the humans. A thousand years, and they still treat us like vermin.

There are some who do not agree with the way humans are treated. There are those who fight. Who would fight.

The mage whore?

She lost someone, too. A human. The same people you want to protect she wants that too. That’s why she saved us, why she and Adam—

Arch Mage.Her voice was like a hiss in my ear.

Yes, he’s the Arch Mage now, but he wants to help the humans too. He wants—

Us.

I paused. He’s my friend. He’sourfriend. He saved us from that tower. That prison. We can trust him, he’ll help us.

I paused again waiting for her snarky response. When none came, I implored her. We can’t do anything if I can’t use our powers.

And you would die for them? For him?

I didn’t even have to think about it. I knew the answer. I knew it in my heart.

Yes.

Very well.

I jerked up out of the tub, water dripping down my face as I gasped for breath. The water sloshed over the sides of the tub, spilling onto the bathroom floor where I scrambled out of it. I collapsed on the floor, not bothering to grab a towel or cover up.

The queen and I had come to an agreement, but I didn’t know exactly how that would go. Did that mean she would stop fighting me? Was I going to have to learn everything again from scratch?

I didn’t know the answers to those questions. Nor did the queen provide them. I could only sit on the bathroom floor, gasping for air and hoping that my time of fighting with myself was done.

When it finally felt like my lungs weren’t being ripped out of my chest, I pushed myself off the floor and grabbed a towel. I quickly rubbed myself down and wrapped myself in the robe Rebecca had provided. It was long and thick, the color of violets just coming into bloom.

In a different place and time, I would have gushed about it for at least ten minutes. Except now the only thing I cared about was if I could use my magic.

I knelt before the bath and reached my hand over the surface. I reached into the well of magic inside of me, commanding it to turn the water to ice.

Once it felt like dipping my hand into a hot fire, trying to grasp at the power there. Now, the fire still raged, but it didn’t burn me. It wrapped around me like an old friend, crooning and cooing at my touch.

Magic filled me, sliding down my arm and into my fingertips. The water rippled and then froze. Slowly at first, inching out from my fingertips and then spreading faster and faster until all the water had become hard as iron.

A crack sounded, and I jumped back. The tub exploded, unable to hold the ice inside of it any longer.

My eyes widened in awe at the large block of ice before me unbroken, even with the fragments of the tub around it. I blinked rapidly and stared down at my hands.

I knew the queen was powerful, but this was so much more. It was powerful, deadly, and exhilarating. This feeling that pounded inside of me was dangerous.

Was this the way the queen felt? This massive amount of power poured into her with what seemed like an unlimitedsupply. I didn’t even feel the backlash of using it, like I had when I teleported to see Zane earlier.

In fact, I felt better, stronger. Like I could spend all day using my magic and never feel the strain of it.

I felt as if I knew the queen a bit better now. How the use of her powers made her feel invincible. Unstoppable. It was a dangerous and tempting slope, for sure. One I wasn’t sure I had the strength to resist.

A knock at the door jerked my attention away from the mess I made. “Come in.”

Rebecca stepped into the bathroom, her eyes widening, taking in the scene before her. “Well, it seems like you finally found your powers, my queen.”

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