Note: This chapter depicts suicide. If that's a problem for you, please skip the second scene of this chapter.

And indeed, she was correct about the manipulation involved in her consent to be a test subject. If Emeth Peree's account is to be believed, Auctor had a romantic relationship with the young woman when she was only sixteen, and he was nearly forty.

❂❂❂

Nausea sloshed through Carmen's stomach. Not from her lady's earlier gesture, slammin' her wrist against the wall – nor from the sight of 'Beck's' body on the ground. She hadn't dared to ask her lady about the reason for the brutal execution.

No. Carmen was sick from one fact: she and Shads were at the gates of Dellanova. A child would die at her lady's hands today.

Shivering in her coat, Carmen scraped her claws on the ice. She had wept for these people the day before, and no tears were left to shed. This was her lot as a Kryteyan. She had to obey, even if her lady was about to commit a despicable act.

If God isn't absolutely loving, he is no god at all.

Carmen didn't understand the argument. Couldn't God do whatever he wanted? Wasn't that why Carmen suffered and continued to suffer today?

She took deep, shuddering breaths. And do I accept that my lady deserved her suffering before I met her?

She became evil 'cause of pain. She was not pained 'cause of evil she'd done.

Carmen's stomach felt cold. Here she was...disagreeing with a significant tenant of Kryteya. The priests would say the rule of alkrm – karma – only applied to the Felali. But according to Hordak, Horde Prime was not simply the god of the Felali, but of all. So Carmen would hold him up to the proper standard.

Still, I can't abandon her. Carmen gazed at Shads, who wore an ornate crimson gown. Her choppy hair billowed violently behind her head, and her blank eyes stared ahead intensely.

"My lady?" Carmen said softly. "You know you can talk to me about anything, yeah? You don't have to kill a kiddo to make your point."

"Question me again," Shads said tiredly, "and you will meet the shifter's fate. We will take this place for the Horde. It is too strategically important."

Carmen swallowed. For Catra, I gotta stay alive. "Yes, my lady."

Shads brandished a dagger. "If your loyalty to me is compromised," she said softly, "I suggest you run."

Carmen forced herself not to make any movement. "Yes, my lady." What happened to her?

Her mind snapped back to Catra. Catra, telling her that Shads would kill her.

Carmen prayed desperately to Raiya that Shads would get some help. It was as though her lady – her sweet, gruff lady – had been replaced by a demon. But before Carmen could reflect further, another Force Captain sounded the signal.

It was time to attack.

✧✧✧

Shadow Weaver gripped Carmen's hand, and they teleported into oblivion. The idea of fresh blood made her mouth water. She had to kill others, or she feared she would end up doing the same to herself.

Shadow Weaver exited the spell with Carmen. Both women unhooked their daggers, and Shadow Weaver shouted a challenge to the empty hallway. "All who wish to face me shall come here. All who wish to live shall flee this city and relinquish the Princess Heir."

Finally, a voice spoke. "Three on two. I heard you like a challenge, Lady Weaver."

Shadow Weaver scanned the area; three royalty stood behind her. Queen Morgause of Salineas, one of the fools who recaptured the Drylian battery three years ago. King Gian, the consort of the Snows.

And Queen Regina, whose shimmering blue-black hair billowed in the air from the power of the Fractal Flake. "You have some nerve, appearing here."

"So I have been told. Duel me."

"No," Gian said. "You will duel us on our terms. The felinetta must stay out of the match."

Carmen growled in a catlike way. Shadow Weaver gritted her teeth; she was sick of broken oaths, of promises shattered. Then, standing still for a long moment, she eyed Gian warily.

Then she hurled a dagger, spearing his hand into the wall. "Carmen, take him!"

Morgause and Regina both attacked her. Carmen leaped into the air, and Shadow Weaver was left alone with the two queens.

Both women attacked; Shadow Weaver teleported away. Her mind was quick, bright, and unstoppable. Morgause had water, and Regina had ice. Shadow Weaver's best bet was a hammer-and-anvil strategy that forced the women on each other.

She exited behind and slammed her boot into Morgause's back. Then, with a cry, the mermaid leveled a blast of water at Shadow Weaver. Still, she hit a bolt of electricity into the attack and redirected it toward the wall. She gracefully flipped and dodged an ice dagger from Regina's direction.

Carmen was still fighting. Hissing, attacking. Morgause and Regina struck simultaneously at thin air; the water froze to ice, stabbing the queen of the Snows in the inner shoulder. Then, grinning with satisfaction, Shadow Weaver whipped around and plunged her other dagger into Morgause's back, severing her spinal cord.

The queen of Salineas dropped to the ground, her limbs limp. Shadow Weaver hoisted her up. She'd burst a major artery in Regina's shoulder, and blood spilled onto the queen's dress, staining her pale skin.

"We can deal easily," Shadow Weaver said, pressing the dagger ever-so-slightly to Queen Morgause's throat. "I do not wish for her death. Cooperate, and I will free her."

"What do you desire?" Regina asked, fear in her voice.

"I require your daughter's death, as well as your own," Shadow Weaver said. "Your ally will go free if you comply."

Regina scowled. "I will die before I sacrifice my daughter to you. So stop making blind threats, and fight me with honor as a true soldier should."

Shadow Weaver shrugged, slitting Morgause's throat and dropping the queen on the ground. What was one more death on her way to numbing her sorrows? "This won't be much of a fight. Now," she said, casting a truth spell on Regina, "Where is Princess Frosta?"

Regina trembled beneath the power of the spell. "No," she whispered, struggling against its grip. Shadow Weaver watched her spasm with pain, a strange glee filling her.

"There is no escape," Shadow Weaver whispered softly. "You will die, and your daughter will with you. And your kingdom, all you have ever loved, will be mine."

Regina paled further. "She...is..." The queen shook her head. "NO!"

She created two daggers of ice, stabbing herself in both wrists, then in the heart. Blood burst from her deep blue robes. She laughed woozily, and Shadow Weaver cursed. "You fool!"

Regina's lips were slick with blood as she dropped to her knees. "No..." she whispered breathily. "You're a fool. For I am the last person who knows where Princess Frosta is hidden. Your lusts have destroyed you...Beautiful Ravager."

With this, the queen coughed, choking and grabbing her ribcage. Shadow Weaver gripped her. "No, please..." Regina's head fell back, mouth in a smile and dead eyes gazing up in triumph.

Shortly after, Carmen finished the job with Gian – Shadow Weaver heard his agonized throes as he collapsed on the floor in the hallway. Her servant entered the room; the felinetta's tanned face grew pale, freckles sticking out like small stones. "My...lady?"

Shadow Weaver stood, trembling with anger. "Go," she whispered. "Go, and find the heir. Bring back her corpse, or you will have failed."

Carmen's mouth was set in a hard line. Then, to Shadow Weaver's surprise, the felinetta made eye contact. "Yes, my lady," she said. "Where're you goin'?"

"I'm ending another king," Shadow Weaver said. "One whom I should have killed long ago. When we finish these tasks, our quest to take the Snows will be complete."

Her servant didn't move. "Oh, my lady..."

"Problem?" Shadow Weaver snapped.

"No."

"Then go."

The felinetta didn't budge.

"I SAID, 'GO!'" Shadow Weaver bellowed, her throat stinging from the volume of her voice. Carmen flinched, looking as though she was about to crumple. Then she fled the room in tears.

❂❂❂

Did you know...

- I debated putting a trigger warning here, but in the end, decided to do so in case of triggers. If you skipped the second scene, Shadow Weaver dueled Morgause and Regina. Regina ultimately sacrificed herself so she wouldn't spill the truth about where Frosta was hidden.

- Carmen's arc is similar to Scorpia's in the show later on.

Tell me what you think...

- What decision will Carmen make about Frosta in the end?

- How will Shadow Weaver maintain control of the Snows?