#Chapter 226: Gone

Ella’s POV Margaret coughed. Blood splattered across my face, staining my vision red. Her eyes widened as she looked at me. And then she went limp. There was no cry, no final word, no great last moment of anguish and poetry. She just slumped to the ground, dead. I think I screamed, although I wasn’t entirely sure. All I remembered was staggering backwards, the knife still clutched in my hands. My father shouted something and surged forward. Julie slumped into the corner, just as dead as her mistress. The warriors stood and stared in shock. Helen fainted into her husband’s arms. Alexander caught me before I fell. His arms were trembling and weak, but he kept us both upright somehow. “What… What happened?” I breathed, looking up at him as the others crowded around Margaret and Julie. “I-I don’t—” “She almost had you.” Alexander cupped my face in his hands and studied me, searching my eyes for any signs that Margaret’s dark ritual had worked. “She