Regicide, Part 2
Kate was unnerved by the discussion and incident with Victoria inside the closet. She felt like she was being watched by a slavering wolf whenever Victoria looked over at her, despite her appearance. She did notice that no matter how mad Victoria got, she seemed to return to normal within seconds, almost unnervingly so. She suddenly turned and grabbed Kate, staring at her menacingly.
"I could kill you and eat you, and nobody would ever know." Victoria said, glaring at Kate. "She died in the attack, they would say."
"What's gotten into you? You've been getting more and more unhinged the longer we've been in here." Kate demanded, actually quite scared of Victoria by this point, but not showing it.
"I'm not sure, really." Victoria admitted, her expression changing in an instant. "It's almost like-wait. Do you hear that?"
Victoria let go of Kate, and looked around, straining to hear something.
"What is it?" Kate asked.
"Music." Victoria said. "Come on, this way."
Victoria simply started dragging Kate by the wrist, paying no mind to her protests or shotgun blasts as they worked their way through the palace. She seemed completely preoccupied with the source of the music she claimed she heard, and was ignoring everything else. At one point they came across a terrified palace guard, and Victoria simply punched a hole straight through his chest and carried on, not even bothering to drink his blood.
Kate was still concerned, but this single minded obsession was better than the increasingly threatening displays she was showing off earlier. She was definitely intrigued by Victoria, as she was almost ethereally beautiful, in the same way an elf was. The capacity for violence and inherent mental instability made her far different from most elves that Kate knew, though.
"Here." Victoria said, stopping at a set of closed doors. She opened them, and was surprised to see a wall of transparent ice.
"What's this?" Kate asked. Then she spotted 3 figures inside. There was no mistaking who the one in the black dress was, as she had met her personally many years ago. "Is that Lady Vordea?"
"Three Gods." Victoria said breathlessly. "Do you hear the song from his violin now, Kate?"
Kate closed her eye and listened. A haunting melody could be heard, once she concentrated. "I know this song..."
"No, you don't. Nobody does. You think you do." Victoria said, her hands on the ice wall. "This is the song of the universe."
"Take a brief respite from the pain of your heart." A voice said, seeming to come from next to them. "This I command."
Victoria slumped to the ground, and watched the two women in the ballroom dance, her hands on the ice. Kate for her part bowed her head, and said a prayer for all of the friends she had to say good-bye to far too soon. Victoria watched as at one point Eigengrau locked eyes with her and winked, before looking away again. Victoria felt a sudden calmness drench her mind and for a brief moment she felt happy, before it too faded.
"Catherine." Victoria said, her voice calm and without the twinge of madness it usually had.
"My insanity will consume me in time. I don't know how the Boss did this for over a hundred years, or how the Baron did it for thousands."
"The Baron?" Kate asked, but Victoria ignored her and kept talking.
"Lady Eigengrau showed me the briefest of visions. You're going to outlive me. Do not weep for me, I won't deserve it." Victoria continued, slowly getting to her feet. "Let's go find the Duchess and finish this little plot of hers."
---
Elsewhere in the palace, Rebecca was in a state of pure rage, and was simply screaming with white hot anger as she killed guards by the dozens, the gore covering the walls as the vines and plants reacted to Rebecca's rage state, and began to aggressively lash out at anybody unfortunate enough to be near them.