Part One: Angelica's Justice
Çelene IV sat huddled in the corner of the dark cell, her arms tightly pulling her scabbed legs to her chest. A cascade of matted, greasy, black hair fell over her face as she buried her head into her knees. She would only look up when a disturbance cut through the pitch black silence and the blinding light of a torch revealed the tattered rags she had been left in, long soiled from bodily waste and the filth of the dungeon. Squinting, a dirt-caked hand sheltered her hollowed eyes as she struggled to make out the figure.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen” the animated voice echoes off the wet stone walls. There is a brief pause before it echoes again. “Has it been so long that you do not recognize me?” the feminine voice from the blurred figure continues to goad with sadistic pleasure. The rickety sound of keys rattling follow as the figure enters the cell, the familiar scent of Çelene’s own perfume cutting through the pungent reek of rot and decay “Ah. It must be the lighting!” the stranger beams with a wicked laughter as she waves the torch in front of Çelene’s face, causing the imprisoned woman to recoil and scurry back even further.
Narrowing her eyes, the blurred figure would finally come into focus. An immediate look of revulsion and hatred possessed Çelene’s face as she stoically glowered from her corner in the cell. The elaborately dressed and perfumed figure would wave her gem-studded finger chidingly “Now, now. I specifically ordered the executioner -not- to cut out your tongue. Is deafening silence any way to greet your baby sister?” she lulls, placing a heavily jeweled hand on her jut out hip.
A weak, pitiful, growl would escape Çelene’s cracked lips as she spit on the woman before her “Karcion take you, Lunara” she rasps in a dry, broken, voice.
Pursing her lips, Lunara would take out a silk handkerchief and carefully dab at her painted face “Ever the savage. I must admit, chains suit your disposition quite well. But I did not come here to engage with or validate your barbaric tendencies. Instead, I carry most joyous news that should bring some…’mmph’... to your...” Lunara pauses, dramatically waving the light around the dark cell “‘quaint, little, abode” the animated woman would start forward suddenly, her fast movements betraying the heavy layers of adornments and silks as she knelt in front of Çelene--wrapping her free hand around her sister’s bony wrist so tight her nails dug into the woman’s taught flesh “You see, beloved sister; I will marry our elder brother tomorrow and rule by his side”
“No!” Çelene whimpers in a defeated tone of disbelief.
“Yes!” Lunara hisses sweetly before letting out a sardonic laugh “Aw...did you think he was going to come save you? And mother said I was the naïve one” her head tilts in smug amusement “When I become the Qin’s Consort of Mydra and control the realm’s temples--there is not a single seer who would dare condemn your execution.” Lunara’s grip would tighten even further, drawing blood and causing Çelene to wince as she was pulled face to face with her sister “I want you there tomorrow--at the wedding. I want you to watch as I take everything from you. Our family...your palace...your titles...even your clothes. Everything” Lunara sneers with excited breaths, her chest rising and falling as she barely contains the joy in her words “Watch carefully, sister, because it will be the last thing you see.” Lunara would free her sister’s wrist before patting her own chest “Your last sight of true justice before your ashes are scattered to the wind and your name stricken from the records. It is not I Karcion shall take. Not yet.” she huffed as her chest swelled with pompous.
“Please...sister...I don’t know what I’ve done to you. To deserve this...please” Çelene breaks down into hysterical sobs as she pleads with her captor.
A visible rage consumes Lunara as her body tightened “Don’t. You. Dare” she warns in a shaky voice “You know very well what you did…”
A silence fell over the two as the sisters locked eyes, but Çelene’s gaze was of one emptiness. Not a hint of remorse or acknowledgment glimmered in the emaciated woman’s blank stare. Infuriated even further, Lunara would drop the torch as she lunged forward and shook Çelene violently “Admit it!” she bellowed furiously “Admit what you did! Say it!” she snarled in anger, trying to provoke a response out of the crying and limp Çelene. Unable to obtain an admission, Lunara would pull away before recollecting her composure. Picking up the torch, Lunara stared daggers at the crying Çelene with grief and hate stricken eyes “It matters not. Tomorrow, after the wedding, Angelica will have her justice and I shall have mine” she shudders with anger, fighting to keep her voice from cracking “Your soul will find no respite, even in death”
It was only when Lunara disappeared from the dungeon with the only source of light that the crying Çelene would speak again “I’m sorry…” she sobs into the darkness.
