The Mother in Red caught me under my arms before I reached her.

Like she had caught a child at play that had leaped towards her in delight, she spun me around in a circle with no effort at all. Her face was all that my eyes could focus on through the wild movement. “Who did I take from you?”

“Autumn!” I heard my mother shout. The sight of her was a red and green blur in my peripherals.

It hurt to look her. The sound of her voice felt like salt on a fresh wound. Feeling the ease with which she held me up, feeling her unimaginable strength, it drove me mad. The arms that had once shielded me from danger had been used to rip what was most precious away from me. The voice that had been like water to a sapling for me had been used to lure my beloved away. The face that I had once found nothing but love in was only filled with pity.

I tried to dig my nails into her arms, but I could not break through her skin.

She stopped our spinning and placed me back on the ground in front of her. She held me in place with one of her hands on my shoulder. With the other, she placed a finger under my chin and gently brought my eyes up to hers.

In my life or anyone else’s, I had never seen such beauty.

The soft blonde curls and waves of her hair were drawn up and held behind her head in a loose braid. Two strands fell on either side of her face and framed it perfectly. There was a softness in her jaw and a roundness in her cheeks that made it seem like she could never be anything other loving. Her heart shaped lips were pursed and her delicate button nose brought my attention to the symmetry of her face. When I met her rose colored eyes, All I knew of her came to me in an overwhelming swell.

Vowkeeper’s Anguish appeared before me. I saw her with Trea in the circle of broken stones and her face twisting in pain as snow fell all around her. Nocti looked up at her as he timidly sunk his sharp teeth into her flesh. Her lion of fire, the longing in the song she sang, the inferno she created atop the pyre of given burdens, all of it rose over me.

A small twinge of pain came to life on my inner thigh. I could smell the dry dust of the ground and feel the cold that had brought the snow in. Echoes of her voice rang out over the crackling flames of the lion.

The swell receded and I came back to myself in front of the manor, staring into her eyes with my mind hanging by a thread.

“Autumn, what has gotten into-“ My mother started when she reached my side, her emerald green eyes shifting from me to The Mother wildly.

The Mother in Red glanced at my mother and rendered her silent.

“Who did I take from you?” She asked me again.

With my own thoughts and feelings lost in Suri, Rhiannon's swell had left my mind in a storm. I did not know what was mine and what was not. Anger was easy. Even if it was Suri's, it was blunt and took no great skill to grasp. Knowing that if I did not choose something that I would be lost in everything, I took the anger into my hands and let it light my way.

“You know what you did.” I growled at her and brought my knee straight up, aiming for her middle.

She did not flinch. She did not try to avoid my sudden attack. She did not so much as blink when I drove my knee into her thigh.

It felt like I had hit the stones of the manor walls instead of flesh and bone, but she did not let me fall.

“Autumn,” She spoke softly. “Who did I take from you?”

I knew that what I felt was not mine. I knew the urge I had to bring her to the ground and crush her throat between my hands was all Suri, but once I had taken it, I could not let it go.

I spit in her face and started shouting things that were not mine to say. “Patience! He was mine! And you couldn’t stand it! You could have anyone in all of chaos and you had to take him!”

I swung my right arm and hit her in the ribs and tried to rip her hand from my chin with my left.

Unbothered by my attacks, she looked away from me at the sound of shouts and footsteps approaching the manor.

Woolie and Springer came into my sight and dropped to one knee just as quickly as they appeared. Anna pushed past them and ran right to where I was being held.

“Hey! where did you go! How did you do that? Are you okay?” She asked, checking me for any sign of injury.

“Anna, dear,” My mother said quietly and pulled her away from me by the back of her dress. “We are not alone.”

Anna shook her head as if she was noticing The Mother in Red for the first time.

“Who the fuck are you?” She snapped with her hands balling into fists.

For a moment so small that I could have imagined it, I felt Suri recede at the sight of her. All of the anger and desire to swing my fists again lessened.

Then, The Mother in Red spoke to my mother again.

“This is because of The Well is it not?” She asked in her perfectly sweet voice.

It was so sweet, it made me feel sick. Suri came roaring back to the front of my mind and I battered her torso with more wild swings with my useless fists.

All I managed to do was flatten the folds of her loose white robe.

“I do not know, Mother. Autumn would not act this way.” My mother answered.

Anna’s eyes went wide when she heard the word mother, but she did not unclench her fists. “She’s not all the way Autumn right now.”

“This has happened before?” The Mother in Red asked, turning her eyes to Anna.

“Hey! I’m trying to fucking hurt you,” I yelled, becoming angrier by the second. My face was hot and there was pain in my jar from the force I clenched my teeth with. “Stop ignoring me!”

“Yes.” Anna nodded.

“You can help her.” The Mother in Red stated, continuing to ignore me.

“Yes.” Anna nodded again.

One by one, everyone else that had been a part of the battle on the bridge appeared over the edge of the hilltop. Bool and Driskt were followed closely by Daphne and Schmit. Sam led the group of ragged men, his blue fur frizzed and dirty, but seemingly uninjured.

Like their counterparts had before them, each of the guards dropped to a knee when they saw The Mother in Red.

“Autumn!” A rough voice shouted.

Arthur, his face swollen and darkened with dried blood, ran past the kneeling guards holding his long arms around his middle.

“Arthur, what has happened to you?” My mother demanded

“That.” The tall man grunted in answer as he snapped his head down towards the unconscious Trea. Beaten and bruised, he stared down The Mother in Red, the tension in his tall body a silent threat.

I took the arrival of everyone as the distraction it was and brought my right fist against the soft curve of The Mother in Red’s jaw.

“Fuck!” I cried out, gaining nothing but pain in the bones of my hand.

The unimaginable strength that held me in place vanished and The Mother in Red stepped back from me. “Show me.”

Anna stepped forward and took my hands in hers before I could throw myself at The Mother in Red again. “It is kind of awkward with everyone standing around watching.”

“Do not be ashamed of something so beautiful.” The Mother in Red encouraged her.

Anna sighed and brought her eyes to mine, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Hey, this is all pretty fucking crazy.”

“Mmhmm,” I nodded, trying to forget the rage that burned within me at the mere presence of the woman standing behind me. “Help me. Please.”

Anna leaned forward and placed her lips on mine.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

I inhaled and took her in. Her usual smell was mixed with the scent of sweat and dirt, but that did nothing but add to the effect it had on me. Every moment that passed pushed Suri further and further away from my mind until all I felt was her.

She pulled back from me with a smile on her lips and blush in her cheeks.

With nothing but a kiss, she had cast out the storm and brought me back to myself in full.

I looked at my mother, her emerald eyes were full of worry and confusion. Arthur stood next to her with his head held up to the night sky. Sam sat between them, his tail swishing violently behind his big blue body. The guards still knelt with their heads bowed.

With my hands holding on to Anna’s like they were all that was keeping me upright, I turned to The Mother in Red.

Tears rolled down her face and she looked like she had just seen something so impossibly beautiful that it had taken her breath away.

“There is not a soul in chaos that could write something so beautiful. You are yourself again?”

“Yes, Mother.” I answered, any trace of the rage I had felt only moments before where no where to be found. I knew what was mine and whose I was without question.

It was only when she wrapped her arms around Anna and I that I understood just how tall she was. It was not the same slender height that Azza was built with. There was power in her body that reminded me of a king and prince that had fought alongside a grey sorceress in a memory I had lived through long ago.

She pulled us into an embrace and kissed each of us on the forehead. “It makes my heart sing to see such love. Thank you both.”

The memory of a candied apple came to me at the mention of her heart.

The captain came into view and limped his way over to where the unconscious Trea lay. The front of his shirt had been torn away and swollen patches of raised red flesh were splattered over his scarred chest. With a pained grunt, he lowered himself to his lady’s side and brushed her hair back from her face.

“We all alright?” He called out as his eyes passed over everyone outside of the manor.

“Are you alright, Byron?” The Mother in Red asked as she left us and went to the ragged man.

“Just a little lovers quarrel. I’ve been much worse. If I hadn’t of wrapped myself around her arm, we’d all be dust right now,” The captain said through a ragged laugh. “I thought you were off to the cliffs, what are you doing here?”

The Mother in Red sighed and smoothed her white robe down to where it ended above her knees. “I came to tell young Autumn that I would be taking her for her punishment at a later date. She was not here when I arrived, but I believe I understand why that was. I am here now because now is a much better time to take her than later is.”

Her words struck me and my legs gave out at their end.

Arthur caught me and kept me from crumpling to the ground.

Why now?

Trea began to stir and she pulled her vines wrapped arm to her chest.

“Easy, boss. I’m here.” Byron said softly.

Trea opened her eyes suddenly and looked at me.

“You!” She growled and tried to sit up, but she fell back to the ground with a whimper.

“Trea. I will send for you when I am ready. Byron, you should come along. We will make a trip of it.” The Mother in Red said to the captain and The Lady in Red.

Trea looked from me to The Mother and then closed her eyes with a sigh. “Help me up, Byron.”

Like he had carried her after she had torn the wyrm in two, the captain cradled her small shape in his arms and stood.

“I don’t need to be carried. Put me down.” Trea snapped up at him as he turned away from us.

“I know you don’t need to be, boss. I’m doing it because I want to,” He said, not putting her down. When he passed the kneeling guards, he called down to them. “Come on, men. I think we all need a drink.”

One by one, all them stood and took up behind their captain.

“Daphne?” The Mother in Red called after the guard.

“Yes, Mother?” The guard turned and answered.

“Send word to Nocti to have a black gate prepared. I had hoped to not have to use one, but time is short.”

“Yes, Mother.” Daphne nodded and started down the hill in a jog.

The Mother in Red began to laugh. It was a low, rolling, giggle that under any other circumstances would have sounded warm and infectious.

With Arthur being the only reason I was not on the ground, all it did was make my heart hurt. I did not know what she would do to me, but if Mother Azza and Mother Gwyn’s were anything to go by, I would not survive it.

Too much had happened. I was too tired, too worn out. Of course she had come for me. They only ever came for me at the worst possible times.

The Mother in Red turned back to us and I noticed that she was wearing the same sort of sandals that all of the underwitchs wore. “I will give you a moment to say goodbye. I know much has happened this night. But, we must be on our way soon. I only get three days with you.”

Anna stepped in front of me and Arthur tightened his grip around me.

“No.” Arthur said with steel in his voice that reminded me of his mother.

“You can’t take her,” Anna continued for her brother. “Not now.”

The Mother in Red smiled and a look of what could only be pride spread across her beautiful face. “Your love and bravery are an inspiration. I will be taking her, but do not worry. I will not harm her.”

“Liar.” Anna snapped.

Rose colored fire began to burn in The Mother in Red’s palms.

I had to do something. At any moment, The Mother could decide that she had grown tired of the mortal’s defiant tone. She could kill Anna and Arthur with as much effort as it took for me to blink.

The fire stretched to the worn footpath beneath us and licked across the ground in burning swirls. Like vines crawling across the ground, it fell from her hands and began to form at her side.

I reached out and placed my hand on Anna’s back. “Stop it.”

“No! They can’t just keep doing this to you! It’s not fucking fair.” Anna shouted and turned back to me, her raven hair fanning out behind her she spun so quickly.

I throw my arms around her and pretended to be stronger than I was. “I’ve done this twice now. Three days, that's so short you'll hardly know I'm gone.”

I wished I felt half as certain as I managed to sound.

She leaned into me and I felt the argument leave her as she accepted what was happening. We held each other for a long moment and then I turned to Arthur.

The tall man looked terrible, but when I told him goodbye, his embrace was full of his usual strength. He clapped three times when we separated and I replied with three of my own.

“Oh, my little Delpha. I love you.” My mother cried and planted a kiss on the top of my dirty hair.

“My lady.” Sam said simply and I thought that to be a good enough goodbye.

I turned back to The Mother in Red and found her fire taking shape.

The lion. I thought, remembering the first time I had seen her atop it. She had been shining like she was made of metal and had a sword raised far above her head.

When the last of its fiery mane shook out of its massive head, She threw herself over it and offered me her hand.

I did not take it.

She smiled down at me with nothing but patience in her eyes. “It will not burn you. Come.”

I had no choice but to believe her. I took her hand and she lifted me up with one arm. Placing me in front of her on the lion of fire’s back, she called out to my mother. “Idensyn? See to Arthur’s wounds please. He is much too pretty for his face to be swollen so.”

“Yes, Mother.” My mother answered through her tears and reached her hands towards the tall man.

"I've got it. I'll be fine in a minute." Arthur waved her off, already looking better than he had.

Without warning, the lion turned and bounded down the rolling hills. Much too quickly, everyone outside of the manor and the big house itself were pulled into a blur. Before I could turn my head forward, we had nearly reached the river outside of Erosette.

“You may want to close your eyes, the speed can make one sick if they aren’t use to it.” The Mother in Red said softly in my ear just as my stomach began to turn.

I listened to her and tried to fight the wave of sickness away.

“What happened to your legs? Did that happened tonight?” She asked over the crackling roar of her lion.

All I could do was shake my head from side to side. “Stairs.”

The air whipping past my face stopped and after a moment, I dared to open my eyes. We were on a roof of flat stone somewhere in the middle of Erosette. The Mother in Red reached past me and placed her hands on my knees. Her rose colored power caught over my legs and my skinned skin began to heal.

I remembered Azza reprimanding Gwyn because she had not healed my arm before she had started her punishment. That was all she was doing, making me whole so she could tear me apart in the manner of her choosing.

“There. All better,” The Mother in Red said happily as her weight left my back. My legs and knees looked so smooth that it was hard to believe anything had ever happened to them. “Are we ready?”

I barely had time to close my eyes before I felt us launch off the roof and bound through the city once again.

When we finally stopped, The Mother in Red had to pull me off her lion to get me move again. My legs were shaking and lowered myself to the ground to avoid collapsing.

Four stone walls were around me and there was nothing in the room besides the black gate that stood at the back of the space. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes since we had left the manor, but my body felt like we had been in movement for days.

“Is that your familiar?” I asked weakly when everything began to stop spinning.

“No. She has been dead for years and years. Although this is what she looked like.” The Mother in Red answered from where she waited patiently for me by the black gate.

Familiars die? I thought to myself as an unsettling feeling came over me. Azza had been hostile from the first moment I had seen her. Gwyn had hunted me for hours before I ever saw her face. Rhiannon had been nothing but kind to me.

It didn’t make any fucking sense. She had come to take me for my punishment and I had not been there. Not only had I escaped the manor, I had impersonated The Lady in Red and earned her fury in turn. From a Mother’s perspective, there was nothing I had done that deserved kindness.

She’s tricking you. She is going to make you drop your guard and then she will punish you.

The Mother in Red offered me her hands again and smiled down at me. “Come. It is late and I’m sure you are weary. Let’s get you to bed.”

I let her help me up knowing that she would come for me once I was asleep. Whatever bed she laid me in would be a torture table that the next three days of my life would be spent trapped on.

The lion of fire fell away into a mound of rose colored dust and we crossed through the black gate.

First, I noticed the smell of sea salt on the breeze that brushed against my face. Second, I opened my eyes and found myself standing on a rocky cliff side that led straight down to a frothy white water. The low roar of the waves crashing into the rock filled the air with a gentle rhythm. Third, I saw the sorceress streaking towards us with her feet cloaked in violent red aura.

The Mother in Red turned to face her with a heavy sigh. “How ironic.”

The sorceress launched herself into the air and spun into a kick, her heel aimed right for The Mother in Red's head with a furious shout.

“You took him from me!”