For She Is Wrath

by Emily Varga

Fuck it. If I was going down, I would take the bitch with me.

But justice seemed more noble than what I wanted. Admirable. What I wanted from the people who betrayed me wasn’t admirable.

How can one take down an empire?

Never show them your fear. The weak feed from fear.

To them, I would be impenetrable. To them, I wouldn’t show fear.

Arming myself with beauty, to distract from the true weapon that I was. And while they were busy admiring me, I’d slice their fingers off with my blade.

You have no idea what I’m about to rain down on you.

Kindness was seductive.

Crying over the loss of him felt too small.

He’d finally become the villain he’d been so eager to destroy.

I was a frivolous, beautiful confection. Not a warrior. But he didn’t know warriors could wear jewels just as well.

He had chosen me over vengeance,

My heart felt like it was splintering in half, which made no sense because I thought he’d already torn it out.

“I, on the other hand, have already forgotten you before you’ve even left.”

“A knife goes with every outfit.”

It was simpler to stab someone in the chest than lose my heart.

“I am a tool of vengeance now,” I uttered. “I exist to destroy those who came for me and my family.”

A history of women and girls being wronged by men who never had any consequences. Now I would be the consequences.

“Are you flirting with me about getting beheaded?”

This was what I would allow myself. This small bit of emotion, before I donned my armor once more and went out to the battlefield.

It was always his eyes I was most wary of. Those were the eyes of someone who had been eaten up by their desire for power.

“I can’t tell if you’re flirting by asking me to kill you or not.”

I can promise that in all things, in all ways, I belong to you.

You were forged in the fires of hatred too, made new by your revenge.

“This isn’t revenge. This is cause and effect.”

“Don’t let his actions destroy your life. You may have given him forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean you owe him kindness.”