Story Snippet

 Hangman’s Noose

The water crept up around my legs, sending a chill through my skin. My body was alive with gooseflesh and my chestnut hair was damp from the biting snow. I kept a straight face, my hands balled into fists at my side as my gaze drifted toward the noose. 

There was no other fate, no matter how many times I’d wanted to believe there was. Brushing my fingers through the faint amber glow on my skin, I wanted to scream. If that had just left, if I could just be like everyone else in that one aspect. I wouldn’t be here. I could go home, unharmed and happy. 

I turned toward my captors, the ragged fabric that I’d knotted over around from coming loose and threatening to fall off. 

“Silver, you are charged with the use of magic and resisting arrest. In the court, you have been found guilty.”

I lifted my chin higher, letting my eyes land on the man’s square jaw and dark eyes. I hated him. My fingernails dug into my palms until little rivers of blood oozed out. I’d never used my magic. I’d never even tried to. But I’d been born with it and that was all he needed. The guards on either side of me grabbed the noose and pulled it around my chin. 

The rope brushed against my skin as tears threatened to spill down my cheeks. I wouldn’t cry. Not now. 

I’d spent years running, living on the edge, and trying to keep going. I’d never cried and I wasn’t going to break now. Not at the end. 

“Any last words, Silver?” 

I lifted my chin so that my eyes locked firmly on my captor’s. 

“I wish you hell. If there is any magic in my blood, I bid it to curse you till your bones are dust.”

His sneer gave my words the bite I wanted them to have. I’d struck a chord. 

“Kill her.”

He turned, walking away, not even bothering to watch me die. The rope tore at my throat and the ground beneath me gave way, unseen things pulling me deeper.

 From beneath the water, the trees seemed to reach down as my world went black, as if they could save me. The next moment my arms went limp and everything vanished.

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