This is going to be a bit shorter than the other chapters. I promised that the identity of the Dark Queen would be revealed around Chapter 17. Well, it will be revealed in seventeen. This is a scene between Desdemona and Lamia. In the next chapter, we'll have the day played out again from Carys and Sebastian's perspective and then the two will come together in seventeen for the revelation. It's going to rock a few worlds, boys and girls. Keep sending in your suggestions as to who you think she is. I can't wait to see if anyone figures it out. Not that I'll tell you if you do. I want it to come as a complete surprise. The only one who knows who it is right now is my beta reader. And I think that I'm going to plan on another fifteen chapters or so. I'm shooting to end it around thirty give or take. There's still a lot that I want to accomplish with this story, so we'll see how long that takes. No promises though, because I learned from KYEC that I suck at sticking to an outline and planned out chapters. So on with chapter 15.
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She paced her chambers slowly, staring at the wall in front of her as she walked. She was not pleased. Things were not going as planned. The boy had lived. Though the spell had not been meant for him, the boy had lived. Unacceptable. The girl and her father had defeated the Inferi. That had come as a bit of a shock.
Nothing, she assured herself, that she couldn't handle. The boy may have survived, but his parents were extremely powerful. His father had survived a Killing Curse aimed directly at him. It only made sense that the son could handle an indirect curse. Genetics.
Satisfied with her conclusion, she walked to the door and threw it open. There were people lining the halls waiting for her. Goyle stepped up and knelt in front of her. "My Queen, your mother has arrived."
She smiled wickedly, headed down the hall toward the ball room. Desdemona Knightley was sitting at the table, looking old and weak. After she had defeated her mother a decade earlier, she had sent Desdemona into hiding, not wanting the lower level Death Eaters who had never met her to catch wind of a shift in power before she'd settled in.
"Mother. You arrived quickly. I'm amazed that you had the strength left to find this place."
Desdemona tossed black hair scattered with gray over her shoulder. "I may be weak, Lamia, and you may be more powerful than I, but I am still the first Dark Queen. I have more power left than most witches could ever hope to achieve."
Lamia nodded to concede the point, perched delicately on her throne, twirling her wand between long, white fingers. "Still. I'm surprised. And your power is why you are here, mother." She crossed her legs, exposing knee high boots and a lot of skin.
"Tell me what you're doing, Lamia. You should just leave it alone."
"Leave it alone?" she demanded, rising to her feet. "LEAVE IT ALONE! WHAT I'VE WORKED FOR SINCE THE DAY I WAS BORN!!!!!!"
As her voice rose, the walls began to shake, the anger rolling off her was so strong, Desdemona folded her hands on her knees and watched her daughter through black eyes. "I've been trying to teach you to control that temper since you were a child, Lamia. I see all my efforts were wasted. Your father gave it a good shot too, but it doesn't seem to have worked."
"My father is dead because his temper was worse than mine has ever been. I don't want to hear it. You aren't here to advise, mother."
"Sit down, Lamia, and tell me what you have planned."
Granting her mother even that grated enough so that she seriously considered ending it right there. But, she took a deep breath, sat back down and draped one arm over the back of the throne. "I'm going to kill them all. And once I'm finished with them, I'll kill the Governors and then the Minister. And once I've taken over the magical world, I'm going to start on the Muggle one. And when that's done, Carys, who I've let survive, will take over command from me and rule the world."
Desdemona was tempted to cover her eyes. "Lamia, you have to take steps. If you try to do it all at once, they will rally. You're young, you have thousands of followers. You can take it slowly. Evil will always be there. It will always be watching, waiting in the wings."
"I'm going to do it so fast they don't have time to rally. But, there's a slight problem, which is why you're here."
Desdemona lifted her eyebrows. "You think I would help you after you stole my followers, my power and my life's work? I don't think so, Lamia. I'm not stupid. I want nothing to do with this." Desdemona stood, walked the length of the room, black capes sweeping the ground behind her. She was weak, and she looked older than her years, but she was still powerful, and still commanded respect. Apparently from everyone except the girl to which she had given birth. "You defeated me. Only because you came into my chambers at night, and cursed me into submission. My own daughter was the one to betray and torture me. After I raised you for twenty years, taught you everything I knew."
"The student surpassed the master." Lamia said simply, waving her hand to dismiss the matter. "We both knew I had surpassed your power and that we were both just waiting until the final showdown."
"Which should have been a proper duel, daughter! You are powerful, yes, but in a one on one fight your power is a liability. You don't know how to control it! You let it control you. That thing, which you never bothered to learn, will be your undoing. I have seen it."
Lamia laughed, and the sound turned Desdemona's blood to ice. "Playing with tea leaves and star charts again, are we, mother? Or perhaps visions and clairvoyance? Which is it this time?"
Desdemona turned to look at her daughter and threw one hand out. On the wall a movie began to play, and Lamia realized that it was one on her mother's visions being projected. She saw Carys killing her, like she knew would eventually happen, if she didn't decide to kill Carys first and keep control herself, but the scene was different.
They were in the room she was standing in, and Lamia was flying backward, her body arching up at an inhuman angle. Green light sprang from her wand and struck nothing but thin air as her body slammed into the floor. Blood sprayed as her skull cracked open, and the next sight was of her eyes, glassy and dead, wide and staring, but seeing nothing as life seeped from her.
Feeling irritation, and a little panic, Lamia flicked her wand and the visions disappeared. "Nothing you've predicted has come true yet."
Desdemona lifted her shoulders, ran her fingers along the length of her wand. "Think what you will, child, but mark my words. If you try to do this all at once and without a plan, you will die and the cause will die with you. We are steps away from achieving what has taken millennia to achieve. Would you really let pride and ego destroy all that we have dedicated our lives to? Do this, daughter, and no witch or wizard for a thousand years will get this close again. Would you really risk all that for a shot at glory?"
Lamia fixed her eyes on her mother. "Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. If I fail, I'm dead and it doesn't matter. If I succeed, my name will be feared and loathed for generations to come. No one will forget me for a hundred millennia. This is my time, mother. My time to make my mark on the world. To prove once and for all that evil is meant to reign over good. And for that," she snapped her fingers and a chair flew at her mother's back, knocked the older witch into it, "for that, I need your help."
"I already told you I want no part in this. You lost all right to ask me for anything when you dishonored your training, your destiny and your family."
"You don't get a choice in the matter. I am powerful, mother. More powerful than you ever were, even in your prime. However," she paced in front of her mother, heels clicking ominously on the stone floor. "I need more. More power, more knowledge. More magic."
Desdemona's eyes widened as realization sank in. "You wouldn't."
"I would. I am, in fact. With your power, mother, no witch or wizard can ever stop me. They won't be able to get within a hundred feet of me unless I let them."
"Voldemort took the power of many witches and wizards, and he was defeated by an eighteen year old boy."
"You were defeated by a twenty year old girl and you ruled Voldemort." Lamia pointed out. "I am that twenty year old girl, with ten more years' experience than I had then. And the magic of a mother is so much stronger when given to the child. Just ask Lily Potter." Lamia looked at her mother, malice shining in her eyes. "Let's get on with this." She spread her arms, and the air around her rippled, so potent was her magic. "IMPERIUM TRANSFERO!"
Desdemona went prone in the chair, her eyes rolling back in her head, a scream forcing its way past her throat as her magic was drained and her power stolen. The black stream of magic entered Lamia and the younger witch laughed, the sound ominous and evil as the magic flowed through her body. When the transfer was complete, all magic and power having been drained from Desdemona, she smiled.
"If my calculations are right, you've got about a little less than a day before it kills you. About fifteen hours. Since you can't Apparate or Floo, it'll take you twelve to get back to civilization." She bent, kissed her mother's cheek. "Thanks. Mom."
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