The Golden One, she was called. It suited her. With gold, glowing hair cascading down her back, bright and warm sun-kissed skin, and emerald eyes that shone as bright as gold, that never dared to look away. She was a vision. A vision that made my stomach turn.

She entered the dark, oval-shaped office with her chin reaching the sky. It was a wonder the crown did not fall from her head, it was held so high. When our eyes met she beamed at me. “Embry!!”

Her eyes lit up, she smiled so big you could have sworn the corners of her mouth touched her ears. I tried to move my face, but I only managed a twitch. “Claire.”

She tilted her head. The smile slowly dropped and a nervous chuckle escaped her. “Is something wrong, Sister?”

_Sister. _

__

__

I was going to throw up. My mouth tries to move again, but it doesn’t. Instead, I throw the burnt letter on the desk in front of me for her to see.

She picked it up and scanned it with a serious face, the concern growing with each second. My heart stuttered each time she went down to the next line. It wanted to stop. I wanted it to stop. Anything to avoid this confrontation, to avoid the truth right in front of Claire’s face.

When it hit her face, the world seemed to change order in a second. My heart beat its last stutter. It’s last beat. She looked at me. The golden glow of her skin evaporated into grey horror. Her eyes stuttered in direction, as if she wanted to look away. In shame. In guilt. The Queen never looks away.

The loss of her fire said it all. And diverted directly to my veins… flooding my blood with burning rage. It was so foreign, like an invasive species flooding my stomach. It watered my eyes, wills me to show her my rage. But I cannot. I would not move my face. I will show her compassion. She is my bonded sister.

My bonded sister… who still has not said a word.

“Tell me that’s not real.” I tried to speak softly, but I sounded mean and cold, I hated it.

I expected her to get defensive. Always Claire had never let anyone accuse her of anything, especially of failure or weakness. But she remained frozen. When her jaw twitched, it was followed by tears brimming her eyes.

“Embry...” She managed.

“Forgive me, is that too hard for you? No worries. I’ll pose a simpler question. Why were you sent this letter on September 5th, 2197? At 10:30 pm?”

She scoffed. “How do you even know-”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Oh. Was she ready to face this as my Queen?

She shut her mouth and let a tear fall from her eyes. I frowned.

“Why did you receive a letter from the woman conspiring to sacrifice me to slaughter my people, one week before the attack on the Red Manor?”

She shook her head. Silent tears pooled down her cheeks. She wasn’t looking at me like a Queen. She looked like a woman whose sister had wounded her. I felt my nose wrinkle up.

Claire noticed and attempted to straighten herself out. She raised her chin and cleared her throat.

“Mecca wanted to send me information-”

“What information?”

Claire took a deep breath. “Her alliance with the Lycans. Her alliance with the Hoax Gang. Her alliance with the three packs.”

“Did you tell King Nicklaus this information?”

“Embry-”

“Yes or no!” My voice raised. Her facade dropped in an instant. She was no Queen. “Did you tell Nicklaus that Mecca planned to attack the Red Manor?”

Her face dropped, and her nose turned pink. “No.”

I stood up and walked around the desk to face her. To confront her. But this time, my heart didnt stutter. It didn’t twitch. It had stopped beating.

“I was shot in the chest, because of this information.”

Her feet came forward. “Embry-“

“Lady Katherine lost her life to this information. Right in front of me as I lie there dying.”

“Embry, please! It was an accident!”

Her voice was angry almost. Like she was demanding I hear her.

I laughed.

“152 humans, 2 hunters, 5000 wolves, and tens of thousands of vampires lost their lives, men, women, and children, to your accident.”

“You don’t understand!” She snapped. The emerald pendant on her chest started to squeeze her. A mix of pearl beads and gold chains, wrapped around her neck like a choker as the emerald started to glow like fire. Her powers were coming to life.

“If I had went to Nicklaus- if I had went to anyone, they would have killed your entire family and everyone you’ve ever known! All the wolves, ever. I had to protect them. The vampires didn’t take me seriously as their queen because they believed that peace with them wasn’t possible. I had to prove them wrong. I had to settle it myself with peace!”

My wolf came forward at the threat of her power. Gold flooded my vision and I knew my eyes were the same colour. Excuses? That’s what she brings me?

“Well, did you do that?” I asked softly.

The pendant dropped as her face did.

I chuckled. “Well you wouldn’t have known, would you? After all you weren’t there. Allow me to illustrate-“

“They poisoned us, Claire. We had so little warning that they managed to sneak into the heart of our society and poison us. Which is fine, if the surprise was inevitable, but it wasn’t. You received the chance to warn us or send something or someone to protect us, to prevent thousands of deaths, the death of my mate’s last remaining relative, the life-threatening injury I obtained, that Abigail obtained, and more, but you did not. And your excuse for failing your people in protecting them as Queen is that if you hadn’t let your people die, then the people who don’t even see you as their Queen would just continue to not see you as queen?”

“Embry-”

“No,” I whispered.

She stared at me with wide eyes.

My eyes burned at this point, but I would not cry. I couldn’t. My face was numb.

“That is no excuse. No reason. You had an excuse for attacking me, I was threatening your beloved. You had an excuse for using the power of our worst enemy-“ I pointed at her pendant. “To force my bonded-brother, Lusciousc to submit to you, before you gave him a reason to. You even had a reason for imprisoning the entire vampire council. Now, your reaction to those reasons show your great lack of empathy-“ I laughed. “But they are your reactions. Your reaction to this, however, there is no excuse. And it will not go without consequences.”

Claire scoffed. “Consequences?! I’m your Queen! Even if I wasn’t, you don’t have the heart to do anything to me! I’m your sister.”

“Yes.” I said softly. “You are my sister. Which is why your action or rather, lack of it, is not just a mistake, it is a betrayal. They tortured me, Claire-“ I shrugged. “You let it happen. But that is nothing compared to the damage dealt to my people that day. So you are my sister. But you are not my Queen.”

She gasped. The look on her face made me want to hug her. I remember the first time I had. The airport when we met up for the Blood Gathering. I expected her to stand on ceremony, but she opened her arms wide and squealed and everything, because she was so excited to see me, not caring about what other people had to say. She smelled like warm air and pancakes, like she always did, and she was as warm as she smelled. My heart twitched to see that same woman like this. Still, I did not feel myself blink.

I cleared my throat and stepped closer.

“I’ve had enough of the vampires in my ear, complaining about you being too weak to rule them, and as far as I’m concerned you’ve proved them fucking right.”

Her face paled and she cowered back.

“As of now, North America is an independent kingdom for as long as King Nicklaus insists on having you as his queen, and you are an enemy to this kingdom. If you’re still here when the sun rises… I will cut off your head, and throw it into the sea.”

(It’s the prompt, but it’s not three hundred words, I hope that’s okay.)