Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
The wind screamed through the valley, sharp as a blade and colder than death itself. Clouds choked the stars, leaving the world cast in shadow. The frost-covered balcony felt treacherous beneath my feet, the stone slick with ice. Rhydian stood beside me, arms crossed, his expression as unyielding as the mountains beyond the castle. He’d found me trying to sneak out, of course. His damn echoweaving had heard me the second I stepped from my chambers. Now, his sharp eyes were locked on mine, dark and unforgiving.
“You really thought I wouldn’t catch you?” he muttered, his voice low and rough, a growl against the howl of the wind.
I ignored his tone, lifting my chin. “I need to meet with the king,” I said, matching his steel with my own. “Before I leave. The ball’s tomorrow, and the queen won’t dare touch me while the emissary is here. She needs me to keep up the charade of a princess, to play my role. But after that?” I stepped closer, close enough that my breath misted between us. “After I’m sent off to Emberfall, it’ll be too late. The king needs to know about the sacrifices now.”
Rhydian’s jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides. “And what do you think he’ll do with that information? Applaud your bravery?” His words were laced with bitterness, but beneath the sharpness, I heard something else—fear. “He already knows, Elara. You think you’re going to change anything by risking your neck like this?”
“If he knows, he’s complicit,” I shot back. “But if he doesn’t—if the queen has kept this from him—then maybe he’ll stop it. Maybe the killings will end.”
“Maybe?” Rhydian’s voice cut through the wind like a whip. “You’re staking your life on a maybe ?”
“I have to do this, Rhydian. You know I do.”
He scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked out over the snowy expanse. “What I know is that you’re going to get yourself killed. And when you do, don’t expect me to scrape you off the ice.”
He turned then, fixing me with a look that felt like it could peel away every layer of my resolve. “If you think I’m about to betray the queen for your bleeding heart cause, you’re delusional.”
The words hit harder than I wanted them to, but I nodded anyway. “I’m not asking you to betray her,” I said, my voice tight but firm. “I just need to tell the king. That’s all.”
He shook his head, muttering a curse under his breath. “Telling the king without her permission is betrayal. You think she won’t find out? She hears everything, sees everything. And when she does, she’ll take it out on both of us.”
“I leave the day after tomorrow,” I countered, stepping closer, desperation creeping into my voice. “The ball’s tomorrow night. The queen needs me alive for the alliance, and she won’t risk killing me before I’m on that ship. You know that as well as I do. This is the only time I have.”
Rhydian’s jaw tightened, the muscle ticking as he considered my words. “And if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not,” I insisted, even though my pulse hammered against my ribs. “You know what’s happening, Rhydian. Those people in the dungeons—they’re not criminals. They’re nobles being slaughtered to fuel the boundary. Innocent lives. How long before it’s someone you care about? How long before it’s you ?”
His gaze lingered on me, hard and unyielding, and I could feel the weight of his internal battle. Finally, he exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. “Damn it,” he muttered. “You’re a fool, Elara. A reckless, naive fool.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off, his voice low and full of barely concealed frustration. “I’ll help you,” he said, each word clipped and grudging. “Not because I believe in your cause, and definitely not because I think you’ll succeed. I’m doing this so you don’t die doing something stupid—like climbing frozen balconies in the middle of the night.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing myself to nod. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” he snapped, already stepping toward the edge of the balcony. “You’re running out of time, and I’d rather not freeze to death before we even get started.”
He grabbed the railing and hoisted himself up, his movements fluid despite the ice and the biting wind. As he climbed, he glanced back at me, his dark eyes glinting with something I couldn’t quite place. “If you fall,” he called down, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “I’m not hauling your ass back up. You’re on your own.”
I smirked despite the tension coiling in my chest. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
He rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath as he continued his climb. And though his words were cold, though his actions were driven by duty rather than care, I couldn’t help but feel the faintest flicker of hope.
“I should’ve let the frostwolves finish you off,” he muttered as he pulled himself up after me.
“You’d miss me,” I called back, gritting my teeth against the cold as my fingers slipped on a patch of frost.
“Not even a little,” he shot back, though I could hear the irritation in his voice. And maybe, just maybe, something softer beneath it.
“One slip,” he growled, “and we’re both dead. Keep your head on straight.”
I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. The stakes were higher than either of us wanted to admit. If the queen found out about this… If we were caught trying to reach the king…
“What exactly do you think you’re going to say to him?” Rhydian asked as he pulled himself onto the next ledge beside me. “That his wife’s a monster? He already knows.”
“Maybe,” I replied as I reached for the next handhold, “but I doubt he knows she’s slaughtering innocent people to feed the boundary.”
Rhydian’s silence was answer enough. He didn’t argue, but I could feel the tension radiating off him, the frustration in his movements as he climbed. He knew this was risky, maybe even suicidal, but he was still here. He was still following me.
“And what happens after this, huh?” Rhydian’s voice was sharper now, a mix of annoyance and something deeper, something more dangerous.
I didn’t have an answer for him, not really. All I knew was that something had to be done. The king needed to see what was happening under his own roof, and I wasn’t about to sit by and let the queen turn me into her puppet.
“I don’t know,” I admitted as we reached the next ledge, the king’s balcony just in sight. “But I’m not letting her use me to kill more people. I’m not like her .”
“If you want to survive here, you might have to be.” His words were final. Deliberate. Haunting.
I paused my climb, glancing at him.
“Is that why you’re still here?” I asked, my breath hitching as I pulled myself onto the final ledge. “Because you’ve given up?”
Rhydian’s jaw tightened, the strain visible as his knuckles whitened against the frozen stone. “I’m here because I owe you. Don’t mistake it for more than that. Working for the queen keeps me alive, and I have no intention of dying for someone else’s crusade.” His voice was low, sharp, each word slicing through the icy air like a blade. “I like living, Elara.”
The words hit harder than they should have, but I forced myself to swallow the sting, meeting his cold, unyielding gaze. “What a hollow way to live,” I said, my voice soft but steady, the weight of my disdain carried in every syllable. “Surviving on scraps of loyalty to someone who wouldn’t even blink before crushing you. You think you’re free,” I continued, my breath fogging in the cold. “But you’re just as much her pawn as I am. Only I’m trying to escape it. You’re just... surviving.”
His laugh was low, bitter, and humorless. “Surviving’s better than ending up in her dungeons or on the pyre, Princess. I’ll take my hollow life over an early death any day.”
We stood on the narrow ledge, the king’s chambers four floors above us. The wind howled around us, and the importance of what we were about to do pressed down, heavy and suffocating.
“Let’s get this over with,” Rhydian groaned, his voice rough as he reached for the balcony railing.
The king’s chambers were so close, but with every step, the distance felt like it stretched further, the stakes rising with each ledge.
My foot slipped on an icy patch, and suddenly, the world lurched beneath me. My fingers scrambled for a hold, but the stone was slick, and my grip gave way. I was falling.
The air whipped past me, my heart hammering in my chest. For a split second, the abyss below loomed closer, the ground threatening to swallow me whole. I opened my mouth to scream, but then—Rhydian’s hand caught me. Hard. Pain shot through my arm as his iron grip yanked me back from the edge of death.
He pulled me up roughly, his fingers digging into my skin, and slammed me against the cold stone wall. I was alive. Barely.
“Looks like you saved my life,” I panted, my voice shaky with adrenaline. I forced a smirk, despite the fact that my legs were still trembling. “Guess we’re officially even now.”
“Shut the hell up,” Rhydian growled, his face inches from mine, his eyes dark and furious. His grip on my arm remained tight, as if he wasn’t ready to trust that I wouldn’t slip again. “Do that again, and I’ll let you fall.”
I let out a laugh, though it was more from nerves than anything. “Sure you will,” I said, still clinging to the ledge, my fingers icy and stiff. His body was close—too close—and I could feel the tension radiating off him, a mixture of anger and something else.
“Climb,” he ordered, the word coming out as more of a growl. “Before I abandon you here.”
I smirked again, though the adrenaline was still pulsing through my veins.
I turned back to the climb, my fingers still shaking as I pulled myself up the next ledge. Every muscle in my body screamed with exhaustion, but I forced myself to keep going. The final balcony loomed above me, and I hoisted myself over the edge with a grunt, collapsing onto the cold stone. My heart was still pounding in my chest from the near fall, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Rhydian landed beside me with a quiet thud, his eyes scanning the area. He moved swiftly to my side, his hand brushing against mine in a fleeting moment of unspoken reassurance before he straightened and murmured, “Stay quiet.”
With a flick of his fingers, I felt the air around us shift, the familiar sensation of Rhydian’s Soundveil wrapping us in an invisible barrier. The wind’s howl muted, and the world seemed to still. No one beyond this veil would hear a sound—not a whisper, not a step.
I met his eyes, and for a moment, the tension between us hung in the air, heavy and unsaid. But there was no time to linger on it. “I’ll keep watch here. You go inside. Call if you run into trouble.”
I nodded, then turned my attention to the door ahead.
The door groaned softly as I eased it open, the chill of the handle lingering on my palm. Warmth rushed out to meet me, thick and stifling, a sharp contrast to the icy corridors outside. The king’s chambers swallowed me whole as I stepped inside, my boots sinking into plush carpet. The chandeliers overhead spilled their golden light across a room that felt more like a mausoleum than a place of power.
My gaze landed on the bed, massive and draped in heavy embroidered blankets. The king lay motionless, his back to me, his breaths barely there—a shallow rhythm that didn’t belong to a ruler but a relic. The Soundveil wrapped me in its suffocating silence, muting even the sound of my own heartbeat.
I moved closer, every step dragging like my body knew what I was about to find. My hand trembled as I reached out, brushing against his cold, damp skin. "Your Majesty," I whispered, the words breaking into the heavy air like a plea. No response. No movement. Just that fragile rise and fall of his chest, so faint it seemed to mock me.
Panic clawed at my throat as I shook him, harder this time. “Your Majesty!” My voice cracked, the desperation bleeding through despite myself. Still nothing. My pulse thundered in my ears as the truth crept in, colder than the winds outside.
I leaned closer, my breath trembling as it brushed his face. “Father…” The word fell from my lips, unbidden, raw, carrying the weight of everything I’d tried to bury. “Please… wake up.”
And then, his eyes snapped open.
For a moment, hope ignited in my chest—until I saw them. White. Empty. Blank as the snow-covered wastelands beyond the castle walls. They stared through me, lifeless and cold, reflecting only the void where the king had once been.
I stumbled back, my body shaking with horror. “No… no, no…” The words spilled from my lips in a frantic whisper, as if speaking them could change what I was seeing.
Before I could make sense of the nightmare unfolding in front of me, a voice—a soft voice—whispered through the darkness, wrapping around me like a noose.
“He can’t hear you.”
I froze, the blood draining from my face. My heart thundered in my chest, the echo of that voice chilling me to my core. I tilted my ear toward the sound, dread clawing at me with every heartbeat.
I spun around. Standing in the shadows, her pale form barely visible, was Princess Evadne. She seemed almost ghostly, like a figure pulled from a dream—or a nightmare. The sadness etched into her delicate features made her appear more ethereal.
“He’s drugged,” she whispered, as if speaking any louder might shatter the fragile reality she was trying to hold together.
I felt a chill run down my spine, her words like icy fingers wrapping around my heart. “W-What?” I stammered, struggling to comprehend what she was saying. “What do you mean he’s drugged?”
She continued to move closer, her steps slow and deliberate, as if she were navigating through a thick fog. There was something ghostly about her, something that made a gasp catch in my throat. Her presence was both haunting and heartbreaking.
Evadne’s gaze lingered on the king, her eyes brimming with an emotion that was as cold as it was raw. “ Lunara’s Breath ,” she murmured, her voice trembling with a pain that seemed almost too deep to bear. “It’s a powerful elixir made from moonflowers in the Frosted Wilds. It puts him into a dream state—he’s trapped in his memories, reliving the past.”
My heart sank as I looked at the king, seeing him not as the ruler I had feared and revered, but as a man lost in time, held prisoner by his own memories. “Why would she do this?” I said. “Why would the queen…”
Evadne’s expression hardened, though the sorrow in her eyes never left. “Because it’s easier to control someone who isn’t really here. She’s taken everything from him—his mind, his kingdom, his very soul. He’s trapped in the past, reliving the days when he was with your mother, the woman he loved more than anything.”
The mention of Aeliana’s mother hit me like a punch to the gut, and I saw the same pain reflected in Evadne’s gaze.
“He talks about you sometimes,” Evadne continued, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the crackling of the fire. “But mostly, it’s Lady Seraphina. In his mind, she’s still alive, and they’re together, ruling a kingdom that’s nothing like the reality we live in. The last time he was lucid was when you came home, but it was short-lived.”
The weight of what she was saying pressed down on me. “This is wrong,” I choked out. “He’s supposed to protect the kingdom, not be trapped in some dream.”
“I know,” Evadne whispered, her voice filled with a resigned bitterness. “But the queen keeps him just aware enough to follow orders, to keep up appearances. His magic is more contained this way, but it still has flares. The Lunara’s Breath makes him compliant, but it also traps him in a world where he doesn’t question anything.”
I wanted to scream, to rage against the injustice of it all, but all I could do was stare at the broken man before me—the king who was supposed to protect us, now just a pawn.
“What can we do?” I asked. “How can we stop this?”
Evadne looked at me, her eyes filled with a sadness so deep it seemed to swallow her whole. “I’ve tried,” she admitted. “But she’s too powerful. My mother has everything under control, and as long as the king remains like this… no one can stop her.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I fought to hold them back. I couldn’t afford to break down now—not when so much was at stake. “There has to be a way,” I insisted, the desperation clawing at my insides.
Evadne’s sorrowful gaze met mine, her eyes brimming with regret. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“I don’t need your apologies.”
“No amount of apologies could ever make up for what I’ve done to you,” she whispered.
Evadne’s voice trembled, her hands clutching the letters like they might shatter. “I know who you are.”
The words landed like a blade, sharp and precise. My heart stuttered, and my breath caught. “What do you mean?” I forced the question out, though I already knew the answer.
Her gaze met mine, steady and unflinching. “You’re not Aeliana. I’ve known from the start.”
The air seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on my chest. I opened my mouth to deny it, to spin some excuse, but Evadne shook her head. “Don’t bother. I knew the moment you stepped into this castle. Aeliana was my sister, Elara, and I loved her. But you… I know you, too.”
My heart pounded as I stared at her, my instincts screaming to run, to deflect. But Evadne’s next words stopped me cold.
“I read the letters,” she said softly, her voice tinged with something fragile. “The ones she wrote from the crypt. I read them to our father.”
My throat tightened. “You… you read them?”
Evadne nodded, a sad smile flickering on her lips. “Every word. When he was lucid enough to listen, I read them aloud. I wanted him to hear her voice through the words. To know she hadn’t forgotten him, even if he couldn’t remember her anymore.”
My knees felt weak. Those letters had been my lifeline, the only thing tethering me to the outside world while I’d been trapped in that icy tomb. Knowing they had reached someone, even indirectly, felt like both a comfort and a betrayal.
Her voice dropped lower, cracking with emotion. “At first, I hated you. I hated the idea of someone else taking her place, wearing her face. But as I read those letters… I began to feel like I knew you, too. Like you were my friend, even though we’d never met. She spoke of you often, Elara.”
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “Why are you telling me this?”
Evadne looked away, her expression clouded with shame. “Because you deserve to know who you’re protecting.”
The room seemed to shrink as her words settled over me, heavy and suffocating.
“I’m Hollowed ,” she said suddenly, the confession slicing through the silence like a knife. “A noble with royal lineage, born without magic.”
I stared at her, my shock too overwhelming to hide. “You’re… you’re Hollowed?”
She nodded, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Do you know what it’s like to be a noble born with nothing? No magic. No power. Just a hollow shell where there should’ve been something great.”
The term itself carried weight—Hollowed. A curse whispered in court halls, a shame hidden behind closed doors. Nobles without magic were seen as defective, a stain on their bloodline.
“I couldn’t go to the crypts,” Evadne continued, her voice thick with bitterness. “I couldn’t perform the rites. I couldn’t even summon frost to save my life. So Mother sent Aeliana instead. Because she could. Because she had magic, and I didn’t.”
Her words hit me like a blow. The crypts. The death rites. The boundary fortified with blood and magic. Aeliana had endured it all because she’d been born with the gift that Evadne lacked.
“And now,” Evadne said, her voice breaking, “she has to marry King Ciaran for me, too.”
My stomach twisted. “What are you talking about?”
Her gaze dropped to the stack of letters in her hands. “He wanted to marry me,” she said quietly. “Years ago, before any of this. It was supposed to be me. A perfect match, Mother called it. A bond between kingdoms to ensure peace. But we couldn’t risk it. What if Emberfall found out what I was? What I wasn’t?”
The truth hit me like ice water. “So you let them send me.”
Her shoulders sagged, her guilt written in every line of her face. “Yes,” she whispered. “You’re stepping into her place, wearing her face, carrying the weight I should have borne.”
Anger flared hot and fast, burning through the haze of grief. “You let her die,” I said, my voice trembling with fury. “And now you’re letting me?—”
“I didn’t want this!” she cried, her voice rising with desperation. “Do you think I wanted her to go to the crypts? That I wanted you to marry a king in my place? Do you think I wanted any of this?”
Her chest heaved as she fought for control, her hands gripping the letters tightly. “But I was useless. Powerless. A Hollowed noble is a stain, a curse. Mother couldn’t let anyone find out. So Aeliana had to carry it all. And now you do.”
The weight of her confession settled over me like a shroud. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I struggled to process it all—the crypts, the marriage, the lies.
“You think this makes it better?” I asked, my voice low and sharp. “You think telling me this now absolves you?”
Evadne flinched, but she didn’t look away. “No,” she said quietly. “I don’t expect your forgiveness. But you deserve the truth. You deserve to know why this was done to you.”
The anger in my chest twisted into something colder, harder. I wanted to hate her, to lash out, but the guilt in her eyes was impossible to ignore. She wasn’t just a victim of her own shame—she was a prisoner of it.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you,” I said finally, my voice raw. “But… thank you. For reading the letters. For trying, even when it wasn’t enough.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief, and she nodded. “That’s all I can ask for.”
The fire crackled softly in the hearth, filling the silence between us. Finally, Evadne straightened, her expression tinged with determination.
“While you’re in Emberfall,” she said, her voice steadier now, “I’ll take care of him. I’ll take care of Father. It’s the least I can do.”
It wasn’t redemption. Not yet. But it was a start—a fragile thread connecting us in the wake of everything we’d lost.