Alright! I'm back! Look at the end of the chapter for notes!

Disclaimer: I don't own Cassandra Clare's characters or original stories.


Chapter 21: Love's Betrayal

Silently, the group of three moved through the dark, eerie halls. With every step, one of them turned their gaze to another new area, alert for impending danger. The labyrinthine halls seemed infinite, and easy to lose oneself in, but Kiara navigated them expertly. Her decades of living within these stone and glass walls allowed them to easily traverse the convoluted pathways and passages. She led the men, stopping at each turn and entryway to check for safety. No one met them, no noise could be heard, all was silent. This only added to their apprehension. Even Kiara felt like a stranger within these halls she had walked through only hours prior.

As they moved deeper into the halls, they came upon the reason as to why it was so quiet. Corpses of servants and guards littered the halls, their blood and limbs painted the walls in a sickening mural. The only sound they heard now was the sound blood squishing under their shoes as they walked past. Magnus felt sick, resisting the urge to vomit right there. He had seen some very disturbing and gruesome things in his life, including having a guinea pig sliced open to determine if he was no longer sick, but nearly nothing compared to this. The smell, the sight, and the thought of what they all suffered before their arrival nearly made him physically ill. When he looked at Alec, he looked paler than normal. The atmosphere was affecting him just as badly, though he hid it well through a soldier's training. To most, it appeared that he was unaffected by the carnage. Magnus, though, could see the slightest quiver in Alec's lip, the subtle way his breathing shifted, and how his eyes widen a fraction. Silently, despite needing to keep his hands free for counter-spells, Magnus reached out and placed a gentle hand on Alec's arm. His fiancé didn't turn his gaze, but the look in his eyes softened a bit and his arm relaxed. Kiara stayed ahead of them, her face unable to be seen. However, by the tension in her body and the way her breaths came out in small gasps, she was affected as well. They didn't stop, though. There was no time. They had to get to the throne room.

The dead weren't the only thing marring the castle's previous beauty. Every wall, tapestry, portrait, and furnishing they found was either marred or obliterated. Ancient, priceless artifacts now lay shattered on the grounds. Relics of past heroes were either missing or broken, with all the pieces scattered miscellaneously. Pieces of history damaged beyond repair. At one point, they came across the portrait of Queen Veronica, and Kiara growled in anger. The lady's eyes were carved out, and her armored dress was torn. Splatters of blood blotted out her ever-watchful eyes, and beneath the bottom frame, someone had carved the words "Evil's child with a foolish dream."

"She was not evil, nor foolish," Kiara muttered under her breath, anger rolling off her in waves. Quietly, Magnus reached out and placed his other hand on his sister's shoulder. She turned her face half-way to him, her eyes filled with rage. Magnus couldn't formulate words, there was nothing he could say to get his point cross. He hoped his expression would do that for him.

It seemed to. The anger in her face diminished slightly, and she stopped gritting her teeth. Silently, she turned back to the portrait and waved her hand, blue mist encasing it. As the mist grew, the damage done to the painting became undone, as if it had never been defiled in the first place. The words underneath it remained etched into the wall. Then she turned to stare at the painting once more, muttering a prayer of forgiveness and protection to the portrait of her people's matriarch.

While she prayed, Alec scanned his eyes around the darkened hall. Unable to see anything, he pulled out his stele and drew a night vision rune on his forearm. Putting his stele away, he scanned the room again, able to see much more clearly. Just a few feet away, he spotted the handles and frame of a very familiar set of doors. The grand oak doors to the queen's throne room. Alec tapped her shoulder, jerking his head towards the doors ahead of them. She strutted before them, and, without waiting for them, kicked open the throne room doors.

"Took you long enough, child," a cold, beautiful female voice said with a laugh.

The room looked completely different from when they had last seen it. It was as though it was an entirely different building. Instead of the glorious, spacious, warm atmosphere that they felt just hours prior, now it was cold, dark, and ominous. Littered on the ground were the tapestries and drapes that had given the room such a welcoming and lively sensation. All of them were torn and tattered on the ground, scattered around the columns and shattered stain glass windows. The beautiful crystal lights that had hung above them joined the tapestries on the floor in shattered, deadly shards. Without their warm light, the room was cast into shadow and deep maroon from the firelight that seeped through the windows. Trails of light from the red sky outside seeped through the broken window glass, giving the room a red tone that reminded Magnus of Edom, reflecting the chaos and suffering that presided there and outside these walls. And then there was the source of the voice.

Helena sat on the throne before them. The black leather armor she wore was unstained, and her skin bore no blood or wounds. Strapped to her hips were two long duel swords, encrusted with jewels and real feline claws on the hilt. Beautiful black locks were tied into a tight braid that fell around her front torso, and her stormy eyes danced with sinister, twisted amusement. She sat lazily on the throne, legs crossed at the knee, leaning on one arm rest, chin on her fist. She smiled beautifully, but no happiness emitted from it. The only emotion it portrayed was cruelty and twisted pleasure. It revealed just how dangerous she truly was under that façade of inner beauty.

Wasting no time, Alec drew his arrows back to his cheek, aiming directly at the woman's neck. Magnus lit flames in his hands, making them grow until they were nearly the size of basketballs. Kiara opened her fans and assumed her battle stance. The three of them weren't letting her get away.

"Give it up, Helena," Alec ordered, his voice firm and void of any mercy. "Your army is being put down as we speak. There's no way you'll win. You're alone." Helena just gave a slight shrug with one shoulder, keeping her lazy gaze fixed on the tip of Alec's arrow as if it amused her.

"If my soldiers were defeated by the likes of you, then they did not deserve to be part of my army," the evil woman said breezily, waving her free hand to mimic swatting something away. "Their deaths matter not to me. They were merely pawns that protect the key player. If they died, then it is no loss to me. I shall just train better warriors when I regain my throne. It is obvious they weren't fit to live in my new kingdom. But then again, I'm not surprised."

Her statement made the anger inside the three of them boil. Alec itched to let his arrow fly into the woman's empty chest, his fingers itching for release. How could this woman not care about the people who have given their lives for her desires? It made him feel sick. Magnus felt just as much rage flow through himself as well. Before they could do anything about it, Kiara spoke up.

"They wouldn't follow you if they knew the truth," Kiara replied, her eyes narrowing cruelly. Helena raised an eyebrow in intrigue.

"And what truth is that, my dear?" she asked with feigned curiosity. Kiara's next words rang clear through the room:

"You were never meant to be queen at all."

Silence followed this proclamation. For a moment, Helena's eyes widened in shock and surprise, but it quickly vanished. Magnus and Alec turned their eyes to Kiara in shock, remaining silent. The statement new to them. Where had that explanation come from? Questions raced through their minds, but they did not voice them. Helena beat them to it, her face impassive.

"What proof do you have?" she asked, her tone challenging but amused. She seemed unperturbed by this accusation. Kiara then gave her own smile, a cold and emotionless smile that made Magnus feel a chill. It was so cold that it unnerved the two men behind her. With that smile, she looked so much like their father…

"Queen Milan's personal writings," the cat-eyed woman answered evenly. This time, it was Helena who smirked and let out a mocking laugh.

"Her writings?" Helena scoffed, laughing for a moment. "Dear child, everyone knows that Queen Milan never revealed the location of her writings. Not even to her servants. Most people believe those writings are nothing more than myth. Gossip spread by the servants in order to entertain themselves while living their dull, insignificant lives."

"True, most have never seen Queen Milan's writings, even though many have searched. Perhaps they are myth. Yet the was one piece of her writings that was found was to indicate how you were to be her successor. Isn't that suspicious, considering it was found mere hours after Milan's death, in an entirely different wing of the castle?"

"This surprises you? She wrote the documents before battle and left them to be found," Helena continued with an eye roll. Kiara was undeterred.

"Well, did you ever bother to look for her alleged lost writings, seeking her advice even after death? I'll answer that one: no, you didn't. Because you didn't want the writings to be found at all. In case they revealed the truth." Hannah's amused smile remained, but her eyes began to darken with vicious intent towards her former protégée.

"And you found these so called 'lost writings?'"

"I did. Quite a while ago actually. Even before I learned the truth about you and caused the schism. Oddly enough, the writings were stuffed into a chest of so called 'forbidden, cursed artifacts' in the Queen's private, reserved archive. You know, the private, warded, forbidden section of the castle library that should only accessible to the one who bears Helena's crown? Why would she hide it in there? Sure, she could have intended for predecessor to have these documents for herself. However, as the stories go, Milan kept many things to herself. In fact, it was rumored that she kept documentation on every day of her life. I think she would've wanted that to be private?"
"You're telling me you got into the Queen's archives? Before you stole my crown? Impossible! The entry only opens reveal itself to the queen!"

"And yet the fact that it opened for me should be a sign," Kiara replied snarkily. "Anyways, I went into the room, having no idea what it was. However, I had just accessed a new world of knowledge, and I wasn't about to let it go. There were books, spells, artifacts, ingredients and potions I'd never even heard of, everything. And then there was a single locked chest hidden under the mountains of books and papers. Almost hidden away. I figured it had to be important what with all the trap spells, curses, and wards upon the box itself. So, imagine my surprise when inside that so-called 'forbidden chest' was nothing but a bunch of papers and books? Not that I was disappointed.

"The books were handwritten. Each of them incredibly long and detailed. I couldn't understand any of the writing, though. Fun fact: did you know that Queen Milan wrote her documents in code? Legends say that Queen Milan was not only wise in her ruling, but wise in her secrets. She hid her secrets with secrets, and it was rumored that she never revealed the translations of her codes to anyone. One account from a servant stated that Queen Milan once stated that only a true queen would have the patience, desire, and ability to obtain her wisdom. The code in those books and papers, I had never seen before in the archives. It wasn't easy to decipher, but I eventually cracked it, once you were gone."

Helena laughed again, loud and full and laced with evil. However, it was just a tad too loud, a tad too long.

"Impossible. You are grasping at impossible, outlandish theories to try and justify your betrayal to your queen," Helena scoffed. "Even if Milan had such papers, she would have revealed them to me, her heir, before we engaged in combat. She never revealed them to me."

"True, unless you found them and deciphered them on your own first? After all, one of the sections expressly revealed where she kept her books hidden. In truth, they were never hidden in one place. She scattered them throughout not just the castle, but throughout Krymenno itself. And she had no intention of compiling them together. So, how exactly did all of her writings get thrown together into a trapped chest that was impossible to open in a room that didn't exist?" There was a pause. Helena's smile dropped a little.

"When I defeated her in combat, per her request, she had a written will indicating that I was her heir to the crown. It is in her hand."

"It is in her handwriting, but not in her words," Kiara countered. "It's incredibly hard to detect the tone and voice of the narrator of a legal document such as that, but when you have a PhD in historical document analysis and comprehension, you tend to find those discrepancies. Seems like someone went to a lot of trouble to try and sound exactly like her. It was almost perfect, too. But there were the smallest discrepancies in the tone and wording that gave away its falsity."

"Preposterous," Helena rolled her eyes. "You're jumping to any accusation in order to rob me of my crown. One that you stole from me."

"It was never yours in the first place," Kiara growled. "According to all the research I've conducted, Queen Milan intended upon Hannah being her successor, not you. She stated that she intended to dismiss you from your training as you had consistently shown no restraint, no regard to the rules, and no semblance of mercy or conscience to those you fought or harmed. So, my guess is based on the turn of events, you forged Queen Milan's penmanship, killed her in cold blood—not in true combat per tradition—and revealed the counterfeit document in order to gain the crown. With her dead and the only evidence destroyed, no one would question your rise to the crown! Do you deny it?"

Helena and Kiara glared at each other for a good minute after she asked her question. The world around them seemed to hold its breath, waiting for Helena's response. Magnus's mind reeled. The documents, all the papers thrown messily across her room, her constant training and the continual isolation in her chambers, all that time she spent in the library…Kiara had still been translating? Helena's face remained impassive, and not one of the three standing before her could tell what she was thinking. Slowly, she began to smirk and moved to clap her hands in a slow, mocking manner.

"Well done, my little kitten," she congratulated with a condescending tone. "You have finally figured it out. As I said a few minutes ago, it took you long enough."

"I didn't want to reveal the truth until I had absolute proof," Kiara replied coldly. "And that proof is in the words of your predecessor. She saw something darker in you and planned to give Hannah the crown because of that. The right documents were hard to find; I suspect that was thanks to you wishing to tie up all loose ends. However, Milan kept second drafts of all her manuscripts in her quarters, and I found them. Her words reveal the truth about what you are, decades before you started your experiments."

"And now that you have that information, what do you plan to do with it? My subjects will not believe the words you say. To them, you are the usurper, not I. I am the savior and mother to them all."

"A mother doesn't send her children to be slaughtered for her desires," Magnus growled angrily, his fire growing hot in his hands. Helena shot him a look, staring at him for a few moments before she spoke to him.

"Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn," she stated. "I am surprised that you remained here to fight in this war. In all honesty, I am surprised that you are willing to believe your so-called sister's word so easily. After everything she has accused you of, after how she treated you, what gives you the certainty that all she says is true? Perhaps she is the liar. Or perhaps it is she who is manipulating you, just like I supposedly did to her."

For an instant, Magnus pondered these questions that the asked him. What if Kiara was lying? What if she was using his emotions and guilt to manipulate him? Slowly, he turned to see his sister, who had grown tense and fearful. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned her gaze for a moment to look at him. The emotion in her eyes gave him all the answers he needed. He dashed those questions aside, shaking his head to clear it.

"Your mind games aren't going to work on me, lady," he answered, raising his hands higher. They had dropped during Kiara's little revelation. "She hasn't given me reason to distrust her. You, however, have no right to my trust. Not after you sent your spies in here and they nearly killed my family. Or how even before I found Kiara you had sent them to kill Alec."

"Although your reasons are insurmountably flawed, I must admire your devotion to your sister. I could have used a man like you in my council. Too bad you must die for those beliefs."

"Touch him and it'll be the last thing you do," Kiara hissed. Helena's face melted into a sickeningly amused smile.

"Touched a nerve, my kitten?" she asked with mock concern. "Before I rip you all to pieces, shall I give you a last request? I hear that's what good stereotypical movie villains do. You do like those pointless mundane creations, don't you?"

"Since when do you watch movies?" Kiara muttered under her breath, before shaking her head. "Stop trying to distract me. And actually, I do have something I need to know."

"And what is that?" Helena asked, amused curiosity painting her flawless face.

"Why do you do this?" Kiara asked, stepping forward and lowering her fans. She let her muscles relax, dropping her arms to her sides. Her guard was down, indicating she was truly trying to communicate with her former mother figure. Magnus and Alec didn't follow suite, knowing that Kiara would be counting on them to be ready if Helena decided to try something.

"You taught me that a queen leads her people to prosperity, but what is prosperous about the death?" she continued. "You had the crown, it should have been enough. Yet you continued to harm people for centuries. Killing each other solves nothing, Helena. This dance has been going on for centuries. Neither of us can last much longer. Before I fight you, I just want to know why you keep making our people suffer. Tell me."

Helena just sat there for a moment as Kiara talked. When Kiara made her last demand, she slowly smiled a way that made Magnus think of Camille. Cruel, secretive, sinister, and amused. She was hiding something. Then she began to laugh softly. It was light, airy, but that made it feel like ice needles were stabbing the three of them. It was unnerving.

"What's so funny?" Kiara demanded. Helena calmed her laughs enough to smile cruelly at her former protégé.

"My kitten, you never learn, do you?" Helena asked. Kiara glared, gritting her teeth and moving to a defensive position again.

"What do you mean?" Kiara countered, her voice tinged with slight apprehension. Helena continued to smile and leaned back to her former position, sitting lazily on the throne.

"Kitten, you are focusing on the wrong topics, as you always do. Aren't you more curious about how I got all of my forces back into your kingdom so easily in the first place?"

The question startled the queen, making her eyes go wide. She hadn't questioned how Helena's forces had gotten through so easily. Keeping everyone alive was more important. Instead of asking the question as the former queen suggested, she raised her head and glared at her some more. In her silence, Helena decided to answer her own question.

"I've always had spies in your kingdom. You already knew that, didn't you? So many of them were failures, though, getting themselves caught or killed by you and Hannah. Even so, I never really had a need for them. I knew everything about the land better than you did, and my spells are strong enough to gather the information I needed. However, there was one spy who served me well for years. She's the only one I really consider useful, as she was the only one you didn't catch."

"You're lying," Kiara accused. "I've searched every member of my queendom. I used truth spells on everyone that was suspected of being a traitor and those who accused them; you swore no one could break through that spell. There were no more spies in this land."

"Oh, but there was my child," Helena laughed. "Right under your nose. Did you know that one reason she was so useful to me was because of her position?"

"What position?" Magnus asked, keeping his flames alive in his hands. Helena looked at him with a cold, amused smile that made his stomach turn.

"All in due time, Mr. Bane. Where was I? Oh, yes. She was one of my best warriors, one of my most ruthless and gifted weapons I had created in decades. I molded her in my image, and fed her my ideals, and though she took my word as doctrine, she was still rebellious and searching for the best way to help her people. In a way, she reminded me of you: determined, passionate, strong, intelligent, an excellent soldier and master of lying. She was the perfect weapon to use against you."

"She doesn't exist," Kiara accused, but there was a slight tinge of doubt in her voice. "You're lying to stall for time. You're expecting a team to come in here to defend you."

"A good guess, but no, I have no team waiting to ambush you. I don't need them. Now stop interrupting." Helena waved her hand and a light mist of blue appeared around her fingertips. When Kiara opened her mouth again, no noise came out. She placed her fingers on her throat in shock before glaring at Helena, starting to mutely scream a number of vile names at her.

"Her mission was simple: infiltrate, gain your trust, and pass on any information that could prove valuable to use. At first, she made many mistakes and nearly got herself captured, but she was able to rectify them easily by convincing you that one of your top guards was the spy instead. She even learned to manipulate the truth spell you use in order to make the guard confess her deeds as theirs. How does it feel, knowing you incarcerated one of your own innocent people due to your blind trust?" Again, Kiara did not answer. Helena opened her mouth to speak again, but another voice interrupted her.

"Kiara?" a soft, concerned voice called out from the shadowed area on their left. Kiara's eyes widened in shock as a figure stepped out of the shadows. A woman emerged, her skin mostly unscathed and free from injury, but her attire and armor were ruffled and worse for wear. Her auburn hair was up in a high ponytail that kept most of it out of her face. Her (insert color here) eyes stood out in the dim room.

"Alyssa!" Kiara exclaimed, immediately dropping her defensive stance as her voice returned. She rushed towards her wife and threw her arms around her, looking all over her to make sure she wasn't injured.

"I was so worried! Clary told me you disappeared, and I had no idea where you went! Our connection broke off! I assumed the worst! Thank the angels you're alright." Alyssa didn't move to wrap her arms around her wife. Her face remained impassive. She was stiff, pale, and robotic. Kiara noticed this, pulling back slightly with a worried expression.

"Alyssa, what's wrong? You're not injured are you?"

"No, Kiara, I am not injured." Alyssa's voice was flat, almost automatic. It was devoid of care or exasperation. It was void of any feeling.

She called Kiara by her name.

"How touching," Helena's voice rang behind them. "The first werecat queen to every marry, with her beloved bride, reunited before the final battle. It is almost poetic. Even I can understand why you love this one, Kiara. She is special. Now we can start the show." Kiara's face flashed to rage at Helena's words. She whipped around, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Touch her and you die," Kiara growled, turning around again to face Helena, pushing Alyssa behind her body. Alyssa remained unfazed by the action. Helena laughed from her seat.

"Oh, kitten, you misunderstand, I wasn't referring to the fight." Helena then turned her gaze to Alyssa, locking eyes with her. "Come, girl. Your mission is over. Return to your queen."

Behind her, she felt Alyssa walk forward, walking around her wife in powerful, purposeful strides. She moved robotically, as if the command was a program and she was following it. However, she didn't seem possessed or magically compelled to move. This was her choice. Kiara's eyes widened in shock. Alec and Magnus watched in growing horror and heartache as Alyssa walked calmly past them and up the stairs towards the throne. Helena continued to smile a knowing, sinister smile as Alyssa neared her. Once she reached the top of the steps, Alyssa stood before the evil queen. With a cruel smile and a mocking gesture from the tyrant, Alyssa moved to stand at Helena's right hand. Her face remained cold and impassive, showing no emotion. Not pride, not anger, not relief, not anything. Kiara, however, stood in shock, eyes wide and unbelieving.

"Release her form your enchantment, NOW!" Kiara commanded, her voice shaking the ruined room. There was a desperate edge of fear in her voice, making her tone slightly shrill and unnatural. Magnus and Alec kept their guards up, though it was getting harder to retain the proper form with their hearts breaking for Kiara.

"Kiara," Magnus said sorrowfully. "She's not under a spell."

"No," Kiara said quietly, defiantly. "NO! That is not true! You!" She pointed a knife in Helena's direction. "You are using some type of trick again! You're just trying to make me drop my guard! It won't work!" Helena only smiled.

"This is no trick, Kiara," Alyssa said plainly. Slowly, she lifted her left hand, and the three of them caught the way her wedding band reflected the light around them. Kiara's face began to crumble as doubt, horror, betrayal, and realization slowly began to set in.

"No," she whispered, dropping her knives. The clatter echoed throughout the chamber. "No, this isn't true. Alyssa, I know you. I love you. I know you love me. I know you aren't what Helena says you are." Helena's laugh

"Oh, sweet kitten," Helena said with mocking pity. "Your greatest weakness has always been your heart."

"Please, please say it isn't true," Kiara whisper begged, eyes pleading and full of tears as she looked at her wife. Her soul shown as she begged these words, the heartbreak unmistakable. Alyssa didn't blink.

"Yes, it is true," Alyssa said with certainty. "My loyalty lies with Queen Helena, true heir to Queen Milan, and rightful queen to Michael's warriors."


WHAT?! You mean that Alyssa was evil the whole time?! Where the hell did that come from?! Why must you torture me like this?!

Well to answer your questions: Alyssa was working for Helena all along, it came from my brain, and I torture you to keep you reading! Mwahahahaha!

Really though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it did stab at your heart. I don't have much to say here though. My brain is fried due to studying for finals. It may be a while before I post my next chapter (already half-way written).

Please leave comments and likes! I hope you all have a great day! Till next time!

Love,

KiaraBaneTMI