“Sebastian, are you sure this is a good idea? What would Father say?” Morgan asks, concerned.

  Sebastian leads Morgan down the halls of the mansion, holding her hand as they move forward. “Trust me. I already have the Master’s approval. He approved of you leaving your room and we planned a special ceremony for you in the main hall.”

  “A ceremony?”

  “Yes. Since the plan is to marry you off sooner rather than later, this may be the last birthday you have at the Walsh family estate. So why not host a grand celebration?”

  Morgan stops. “But Father… he’s never celebrated my birthday. Mother was the one who always celebrated it with me. But now that she’s gone.”

  Sebastian grabs her hand and falls to his knee. “Then let us make it a first. Come, Mistress Morgan. Let us take this night to celebrate you and all you will bring to this world.”

  “Sebastian…. You're right. If Father is willing to celebrate my birthday, then who am I to go against it? Come Sebastian, let us go. We cannot leave Father waiting.”

  He stands and nods. “Of course. Let’s be on our way.”

  Morgan walks past Sebastian as he nods, a wide excitable grin on her face.

  Morgan walks down the halls and stands before the double doors of the main hall. Sebastian stands next to her, bowing as Morgan takes in a deep breath. She reaches out and pushes open the doors, with Sebastian moving behind her. The bright lights of the hall blind her for a moment before she is able to open her eyes.

  Before her, the servants all stand at attention lining the wall, with four servants standing at the back of the hall. A large, black pulsating mass sits upon an altar, giving off an odd mist that slowly fills the room. In the center of the room, her father and brothers sit bound and gagged and tied to chairs sitting at a long table, each one with an empty plate sitting in front of them and glasses of a strange black liquid.

  “Happy Birthday Mistress Morgan.”

  “Sebastian… what is this!?”

  “Your present. The day you become the head of House Walsh! And the destined heir of this kingdom!”

  “What are you talking about? This is madness!” She turns to the black mass. “What even is that thing!?”

  “Hey don’t speak rude about the Great One!” Talia yells out.

  Oscar puts his hand to his chest. “The Great One will lead all of mankind to paradise and usher in a new age without strife.”

  Lois smiles. “We should ease the dear in slowly. This is all coming off a shock to her.”

  “Hey, one of you peons get the Mistress a chair or something,” Luka orders.

  “Sebastian?”

  He holds her hand and smiles. “It’s as I said. What you see before you is a ritual of sorts. Something that will let you become what you were meant to be. The one to lead these lands and all of humankind.”

  “What?”

  Marcel struggles against his bindings as Marcus and Mason scream out into their gags. Morgan stares at them in horror until Sebastian grabs her face and turns her towards him. She stares at his calm face and an odd sense of serenity comes over her.

  “Sebastian….”

  “Come now, Mistress. You do know this is your chance.”

  “My chance?”

  “Do you know the current status of House Walsh?”

  Morgan pauses. “Our house is in decline. After Mother was forced out, Father was unable to manage our territory as well as her. My brothers are just as pompous and try to maintain appearances while behind-the-scenes everyone mocks us. Mother was the only one who could keep everything together.”

  “House Walsh is in decline and is bound for ruin at this rate. If left in the hands of incompetence, as it has been.”

  Marcel screams out at the top of his lungs.

  “Oh, this one wants to talk,” Luka says with a smile on his face. “Shall we let him?”

  “Let's,” Oscar says.

  Luka undoes the gag in Marcel’s mouth. “You bastard! How dare you talk about me like this! House Walsh is one of the great families. Our ancestors fought hand in hand with his majesty!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “So, what?” Morgan says, walking past Sebastian with a rage on her face. “What does that have to do with anything!?

  “Morgan. That look on your face… you look just like that woman.”

  “That woman? You mean Mother.” Morgan stares at her father. “You know, Mother was the only one who could keep up this territory. She worked harder than anyone to keep everything running while you played at running a business that failed time and time again!”

  “That woman insulted my honor! She was a whore who sold herself for funds! She dared to cozy up to me afterward as if she had not dishonored me!”

  Sebastian smiles and produces a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Oh, was she now? But wasn’t it your idea to sell your wife to that Count to prop up one of your failing businesses?”

  “What?” Morgan turns and then glares at her father. “What did you do!?”

  Sebastian smiles. “It took a while to find this. The other servants were cautious about talking about this, but there were rumors flying around in every hidden corner. And now I present this to you, Mistress Morgan.”

  Morgan takes the paper from Sebastian, seeing a letter and reading it cautiously. She reads it and as she takes in every letter, she grips the edges of the paper, her rage building with every word. She glares at her father and holds out her hand, firing off a burst of flames at her father, only to miss him by inches.

  “What is this?”

  “Morgan… don’t you dare….”

  “What did you do!?”

  “He sold his wife over to Count Fenwick for bags of cash to inflate his business and prop up his social standing. But once word got out, he defamed her in public, wrote her off as a cheating slut and banished her from the territory. All to save face when someone called him out.” Sebastian leans forward, whispering into Morgan’s ear. “And your brothers knew. Everyone knew but you, Mistress Morgan. Why? Because they all knew what you’d do when you found out.”

  “I did what I did for the sake of the family! If that woman couldn’t keep her mouth shut, then she got what she deserved!” Marcel yells out.

  Sebastian smiles. “Did she deserve the assassin, then?”

  Mason's and Marcus’s faces drop as they turn to their father. Morgan’s anger boils as flames burst from her fingertips. The room goes quiet as everyone turns to Marcel. With all eyes on him, he sweats, trying his best to keep his mouth shut. He sweats, barely able to contain himself.

  “What did you do!?” Morgan yells out.

  “I had to keep her quiet. She knew too much. Someone like that could not be allowed to roam free!”

  “Ah, such an ugly heart,” Lois says.

  Oscar nods. “Indeed. The ugly face of humanity.”

  Luka laughs. “Man, what an idiot. Killing his wife for something he did.”

  “Geez. Even I feel bad about that.” Talia says.

  “Don’t dare mock me. I did what I did for the sake of house Walsh! We are at the forefront of nobility. For us to be in decline would mean the whole country is in decline!”

  Morgan stands balling her fist in a rage as Sebastian walks closer to her. He hands her a small dagger, and she snatches it up in a rage. Fueled by hate and passion, she charges ahead, leaping into the table and plunging the dagger into her father’s eye. He screams in pain as the blood rockets out of his wound.

  “House Walsh! For the good of House Walsh! All you care about is your noble name, so if that’s the only thing you care for, then I’ll bring it all down! I’ll destroy House Walsh and reduce your pride to nothing!” She yells out, turning to her brothers. “Sebastian!”

  “At your command Mistress.” He says, walking between the two boys.

  With a snap of his fingers, wires fall from above, wrapping around the two youths' necks. Their screams and panic are muffled, and their bodies are lifted into the air. They struggle to try to break their bindings to claw at their throats, but they barely move. Everyone watches as their eyes bulge and their panic breaths leave their lungs with the wires around their necks tightening second after second. Sebastian smiles and snaps his fingers again, tightening the wires and slicing through the meat. Their heads go flying, rolling on the ground as their bodies still tied to chairs crash down in front of the table.

  Sebastian bows to Morgan, suppressing his own excitement. “As you wish, Mistress Morgan.”

  “Morgan… those were… those were your brothers! Why would you…”

  “They were just like you. They’re your reflections, your heirs. So, they had to go. Like my mother, they were too dangerous to be left alive.”

  Marcel panics as Morgan approaches him. “Please. I’m your father, you can’t! Everyone, are you fine with this madness!? Why is no one stopping her!?”

  “We see you for what you are,” Lois says.

  “A worthless pile of meat,” Luka says.

  “A man whose pride has gotten the better of him,” Oscar says.

  Talia laughs. “A man who’s better off dead.”

  Sebastian walks up to him and whispers into his ear. “A tool perfect for creating a puppet.”

  “What!?”

  “Mistress Morgan, if you’d order it.”

  Morgan shakes her head. “No. I do this myself!” She yells.

  She leaps forward and takes the dagger out of her father’s eye as blood spurts across her hands. He screams and shakes, but Sebastian holds him in place. Morgan, in a single thrust, takes the dagger and jams it into Marcel’s throat, blood sprouting across her face and covering her hands. He tries to speak, to utter any last words, but his voice gives out and his remaining eye rolls to the back of his head. As he goes limp, dying with Morgan standing over him.

  At that, everyone in the room applauds the defining claps, only ending with Morgan holding up her blood-soaked hand. “I am Morgan Walsh, the head of House Walsh. And this asinine family ends with me!”

  “Congratulations, Mistress Morgan.” Sebastian continues clapping. “Now there is one last matter.”

  “Right, we need to dispose of these bodies.”

  “That and we need to foster the Great One.”

  “The Great One.” In her rage and fury, the black mass in the back of the room was practically invisible. But now staring at the pulsating mass, her eyes are wide open as the black smog fills the room. “Right, the Great One.”

  “The Great One will lead us all to salvation. He will lead you into the paradise that you seek.”

  “Really now?”

  “See the power he has already granted me and the others? See what he has allowed us to accomplish for your sake.”

  She nods. “I agree it is impressive.”

  “So, Mistress. I say this. If we can fully awaken the Great One, would that not grant you what you truly seek?”

  Morgan pauses as Sebastian reaches out his hand to her. “I don’t…”

  “Have I ever led you astray?”

  She smiles, taking his hand. “Never.”

  “Then let me tell you of the Great One. And of the wonderful world we can now create.”

  “Fine, I’ll listen. But first, a bath and some tea if you would.”

  “Of course, Mistress Morgan.”

  The thing wearing Sebastian smiles as on the inside what remains of the true Sebastian attempts to scream. Unable to stop himself, control his words, and only able to watch. He attempts to scream. But trapped inside, he has no mouth, and his attempts at screams all fall deaf.