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art by Shothot Designs

Heartbeat

by Erin M. Hartshorn
Erin M. Hartshorn is a desert rat (native Nevadan) transplanted to a humid climate. Her fiction has appeared both online and in print. She blogs a few times a week at www.erinmhartshorn.com.

Ariana's heartbeat echoed the last word of the spell: dub-dub. The tugging began, as though invisible gremlins had grabbed her arm. Yara's shriek made Ariana swivel her head. Yara was being pulled in the opposite direction.
Cloth ripped as the single dress with two necks was tugged with the girls. Her pulse grew louder.
Ariana closed her eyes in agony as she and Yara were ripped asunder by the spell. Mother hadn't said it would be this painful.
Silence came. Her eyes flew open; she had no heart.
"The kingdom can have but one queen," Yara said, rising up.
The End
This story was first published on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010


Author Comments

I was thinking about conjoined twins and the challenges of separating them. Most of the solutions fell into science or science-fiction territory, but I wanted to try something in fantasy.

- Erin M. Hartshorn
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