Shattered. Shattered like the broken glass that lay around the room. Jagged like the blade that had cut through the air, and as heavy as the body that fell before her, all twisted angles and broken pieces.
         Her perfect, beautiful sister. Mara almost wanted to laugh, no doubt hysterically, if she could even get a single breath passed her lips. Her sister once reflected royalty to the mark with an intellect to prove her worth. On the floor, Dione reflected just how powerless a human could be, a canvas of crimson red and soiled robes.
         A sound that once filled Mara to the brim with happiness resonated throughout the room.
         “Isn’t this what you wanted, Mara?” The voice paused to suppress another laugh, “My queen.”
         “No…” Mara choked on the rising bile in her throat, unable to tear her eyes away from the nightmare before her. “I didn’t- I never-”
         The figure stepped into the candlelight, the flickering flame casting shadows across his hands. The promise that they had made to each other gleamed.
         “Rian, this isn’t what-” Mara couldn’t hold it any longer, and collapsed, sick falling centimeters away from her sister. The smell of blood stripped Mara’s mind of every last rational thought as her nails scrabbled for purchase on the wood paneling and her lungs gave into static vision. She felt a strong hand wrap around the curls in her hair, the very curls that once felt a softer touch, twisting Mara back onto her feet.
         “You’re pitiful. You wanted this, didn’t you? Is that why you can’t cry? Go on, cry for the life she was supposed to have, the people she was supposed to lead. Cry for the sister that you lost.” His face broke out into a lopsided grin, “You were always jealous of Dione and the power she possessed.”
         Mara locked eyes with the boy who used to chase her around the castle with flowers he stole from the gardens. Rian, who would let Mara cry on his shoulders when Dione proved how superior she was to her little sister; Rian, with his royal blood and only chance of power lying with his fiancée.
         My sister, she thought weakly, I never wanted this, I swear. Mara thought she saw Dione’s ghost in the splinted glass, the promise of haunting the new queen until she died a much more painful death.
         “No,” Mara muttered, “I cannot accept this, you will have to kill me if you want to rise to power.”
         Rian’s eyes darkened as he glanced down at the dripping blade, before stepping closer to Mara, “Oh Mara, I never once said that you were not a part of this plan.”
         Mara felt all the blood rush to her head as her betrothed raised the blade for one last crime.
         “You will always be my queen.” The words were lost in the singing of the blade and the echo of Mara’s heart as it shattered once more into a thousand jagged pieces and fell among the broken glass.