“Goddamn it!” Miri roared, hammering her fist onto the magically-created rock wall sealing the service entrance. As a way to vent her anger and frustration, she casted several Starlight Bolts and Crescent Arcs at the wall to try to break it—each cast accompanied by a shout of a single word that was part of a sentence. “That! Motherfucking! Son! Of! A! Bitch! Traitor! GRRAAAHHHH!!!”

  Despite all the spells being dished out, the only damage resulted from them were but a few small cracks on the wall itself. Even so, Miri did not feel like stopping. She was simply too pissed off by the betrayal and she needed to take it out on something.

  “You’re not going to break through that wall. It’s magically fortified,” Isaiah informed. “It’ll be faster if we enter back into the keep through the main entrance.”

  Miri swiftly darted her gaze back at the young boy, staring daggers at him and causing him to shrink with shame.

  “I don’t wanna hear another word coming out of your mouth,” Miri warned with a fuming growl. “Not after what your father just did.”

  “Please stop, Miri!” Anne said, stepping in between the furious mage and the guilt-ridden boy. “It’s not his fault! He didn’t know that his father was going to do such a thing! He just got pushed off as well! Think how it must have made him feel!”

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  Miri groaned, pulling her hair in frustration. “Goddamn it, Anne! You nearly just died back there! Almost killed by the very same person whose life you just saved, no less! For once in your goddamn life, can you not be such a kind and forgiving goody two-shoes?! Have some sense of self-preservation for once! Feel some anger for once!”

  “I am angry!” Anne snapped, raising her voice to match Miri’s. “You don’t think I’d want to vent as well! You don’t think I feel pained by the betrayal! I’m not as much of a pushover as you think, Miriam! But now is not the time to let our anger cloud our judgement! Right now, Hugo is probably heading to the ritual room to take the runes for himself, even as we speak! The longer we stay here trying to argue who’s to blame, the more likely he gets to get away! So how about we put everything else aside for now and focus on going after him?!”

  Miri took a moment to calm herself as she pondered on Anne’s words. As much as she hated to admit it, Anne was the more level-headed in this situation. They couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. They needed to act quickly.

  “Alright, fine! We’ll sort everything out after we find and catch that bastard!” Miri said to Anne before turning to glare at Isaiah. “And if he tries to pull any stunts like that again, I won’t hesitate to kill him. You can be sure of that.”

  That last statement sent chills down Isaiah’s spine. Was he really going to be forced to watch this woman kill his father—a death that he might have rightfully deserved? How did it come to this? How did it all go so wrong so quickly? Deep in the back of his mind, he’d wondered if he and his father should have ever come to this keep in the first place. And now that they did, he was seriously regretting that decision.