Crimson blood spilled onto the pristine white marbled floor as the sound of thunder hid her desperate gasps for air. 


“Pietro.”


At the mention of the man’s name a growl escaped him, his hand twisting the silver blade lodge within her stomach even further. He hated her voice, he detested the bewildered gaze upon him at that moment. “Don’t… After all you have done you have no right to say my name.” He whispered into her ear, though he hadn’t expected her to start cackling with delight. 


“I see… So you learned about Harmony didn’t you?” She asked breathlessly as she raised her gaze to meet his own, the corners of her ruby red lips pulling up into a sinister smirk, “But seeing as you’re here, she made it didn’t she? I knew I should’ve given her a stronger-”


Her words were cut short as he pulled the knife from her stomach, his form backing away as the young empress Celestine collapsed to her hands and knees. “Shut your horrid mouth and just die already! Gods, I trusted you Celestine, I even came to care for you! But when you couldn’t have me because I fell for another you stooped so low as to poison her with nightshade?” 


The lightning illuminated the darkened room, giving him sight perhaps he would have rather not wished for in that moment. Before him now stood Celestine, her once amethyst eyes turned as red as the blood she had shed. Her hair golden as the sun was as white as the first snow of winter, and her pale skin held even less color than before. 


“Is that all you know? Oh Pietro, my dearest knight, you have so much to learn! To think that was my only evil deed… Such innocence you hold within you!” Celestine sneered as she approached him, her knight falling down upon the floor as he witnessed her shape shift into the Duchess of Calibrea who had been executed for being the leader of a trafficking ring so widespread it took nearly a decade of Pietros life to bring it down completely. 


“Trafficking profits is what fills your pockets as well as those of your brethren!” She said in that uppity tone she had taken on for such a form. But soon she shifted into the Viscount of Wilberon, the old crotchety goblin who had run numerous drug dens throughout the empire. 


“Drugs funded the pockets of the courts, the kingdom and the imperial coffers!”


Then she shifted into the worst form she had ever taken, that of Commander Edwards of the Juniper Empire. “As for this form… Killing for the thrills it brings, such things are unbecoming of an Empress! Don’t you agree my dear sweet P-”


Yet again she was cut off as she felt a sudden strike to the back of her head, staggering back as her form shifted back to who she was meant to be. “Gods dammit, stop cutting me off! Who in the seven hells is-” She stopped as her eyes saw her, the wounded empress doubling over in a fit of laughter as she saw the young bastard princess Harmony holding a candelabra as if it were merely a club. 


“I always knew you were a witch sister, but to think you would use your abilities in such despicable and demonic ways… How low were you prepared to go for our father?” She asked, though in truth she already knew the answer. Unlike her sister's ability to shift, Harmony held the ability to see the truth held deep within a person's soul, though she held many other abilities beyond that. The ability to heal the sick and dying, the ability to influence others emotions, and the enchanting visage and charisma that she was born with all were at her disposal. 


But all these powers were useless against her sister's darkness, her heart as black as the midnight shadow.


“You should know fully well Harmony the lengths I would go for my father. You yourself had a taste of them yourself!” Celestine chuckled and she stood up completely straight. Her gaze left Harmony as Pietro, who in the presence of his beloved, resolved himself to kill the empress who still so deeply loved him. 


“Your abilities may be born from the lights of the heavens above sister but never forget who father is. You may have been born an angel but you shall always have a demon lurking within. One day it shall overtake you, and on that day you too shall know what I feel. On that day you will finally be able to call me sister, though until then… I think I shall try dying.” 


Harmony’s eyes widened as Celestine pulled the holy dagger from behind her back, the very blade that had taken the former emperor's life. 


“Until we meet again.”


Celestine smiled as she drew the blade's edge across her neck and felt the blood gush from the wound, falling to her knees before falling forward with a thud. 


At that moment Pietro rushed over to Harmony and embraced her, the young princess clinging to him as she released a guttural scream from deep within her. 


“No! Celestine no!” Harmony cried as tears poured from her crystalline blue eyes, her lithe body cradled in his muscular embrace as he did his best to comfort her. “It’s alright Harmony, she can’t harm you ever again now.” 


“Pietro, she was not to blame!” Harmony yelled as she shoved him away, “It was all fathers influence! If she had known what love is, maybe she would have… Maybe we could have…” 


Harmony broke down in tears and embraced Pietro again, the ebony haired knight stroking the silver hair of his beloved. “I’m sorry, I- I didn’t think of such a thing. Perhaps in her next life she will find such love, become the woman you knew she could be. If that is the wish you have then I too shall wish it so. I love you Harmony… I love you to the end of the thirteen celestial realms and back.” He whispered before he planted a kiss upon the top of her head. The two held that embrace until the silence was broken by the royal guards descending upon them, marking the end of the era of stars and the beginning of the era of harmony