Chapter One

"Do you have any last words?"

Sofia stood regally tall on the gallows, her chin lifted high to keep it from touching the rope around her neck. It was yet to be pulled uncomfortably tight, allowing her to speak. Sofia stared down from the gallows platform into unyielding amber-brown eyes. Her mouth stayed decidedly closed.

"Please don't make me do this, Sofia. Just bow to me. It will be nothing but a formality. Things can stay exactly as they are."

"I will not bow to a Queen who wears a crown studded with the jewels of every life she has ended."

Amber's hand unconsciously flew to the crown that delicately sat upon her golden waves of hair. When she realized what she had done, she whipped her hand back down to her side in a fist.

"You're a fool, Sofia. Your rebellion is nothing. Yes, yes I know of it. I've known about it all along. I ignored it, for you. Because I love you. You're all that's left of mother. I'm all that's left of father."

"Whose fault is that?!" Sofia snapped back, unable to maintain her calm collection.

"I did what I had to do! You weren't there. You were off, away, like you always were! I did what I had to do."

Sofia could see the flash of jealousy, of madness, behind her sister's expression. She tried to bite back her tongue, but her own anger made it impossible.

"Is that what you told James when you locked him away?"

"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME TO ME!" Amber's voice, shrill and enraged, echoed around the chamber. Her thumb picked at the scabbed-over cuticles of her other hand, blood beginning to flow around her nail. She looked down, trying to come to a decision.

"I tried. I gave her chances," she murmured, her voice barely audible to Sofia. "But we did what we had to and she - I know, I know. You gave her one last chance and look what she said. She knows. She knows too much. You don't have another choice. She knows. And it has to end."

Amber's eyes darted up to the man who held the rope on the gallows stand.

"Do it."

Amber turned and walked from the room as the rope tightened around Sofia's neck. She drew her bound hands to her neck, trying to wiggle a space for her fingers between her skin and the rope as the floor dropped out from below her. She would have screamed if she had any access to her windpipe. It was pure luck that her neck hadn't snapped. And her will to survive was strong.

Sofia kicked her legs in the air, causing her body to swing back and forth in her fight to find something, anything for her feet to find purchase on. The gown Amber had trussed her up in for her murder was cumbersome and heavy, making it harder and harder to move. Sofia's body was begging her to take in a breath as stars started to erupt in her vision. Her hands were starting to feel weak. They dropped away from the small allowance of space they had made for her. The stars were starting to fade into blackness as her legs kicked with less and less energy.

Something snapped. Sofia was certain it was her neck finally giving in. She felt pleasantly weightless for a moment before colliding with something hard. Death. Surely it was her collision with death as life left her body and her soul tried to pass over to the other side.

Strong arms pulled her up from the doorway to the afterlife and Sofia felt an odd sense of loss. She was limp again, weightless with something hard pressing into her stomach.

"Fool," a familiar voice said. So familiar, but so far away. It was the last thing she heard before Sofia faded away, lost somewhere between unconsciousness and eternity.

.

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A/N: A big thanks to Jessibelle811 for sending along the prompt that started this story. You'll also find it posted on my Prompts and Drabbles story but it's become a thing of it's own. The story bug bit!
I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think - reviews make me write faster ;)