A Monarch’s Fall (Soul Match #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter one

Hit Harder.

Selene Borealis

Why would Percy enter the maze?

Desperation.

She was terrified and likely didn’t consider the danger as she scrambled to escape.

The maze at least gave me time. The unnatural beast of a thing liked to take its time with victims. I had read reports of executions by the maze, and on occasion, it made apparently no effort to subdue its victims but rather waited until they were exhausted before striking.

This was better.

The maze.

Better than watching her be captured and immediately abused and torn apart by the cankerous, traitorous, no better than mercenaries: True North.

At least the maze did not mutilate postmortem. It didn’t hang guts from flagpoles, heads from gates, or send its victims home piece by piece; butchered and wrapped like a gift-wrapped ham, a new portion for special occasions — weddings and Amphidromia.

Oskar’s cousin was to be married soon, and my gift was on its way.

“Find Rylan,” I demanded, forcing myself to turn away from the window.

Percy was within the maze now. I would achieve nothing from anxiously refusing to look away from where I had last seen her.

“Last comms, he was toward the east wing,” one of my guards informed me.

The four nodded to one another, silently communicating the way soldiers who had worked together for many years did.

“Two split,” one suggested, splitting into two groups of two, unable to leave me undefended while tracking down Rylan. I needed him now, needed him to help me plan how to extract Percy safely from the maze, whether the estate was lost or not. It looked very much like it would be lost this day.

The heavy beat of boots heading towards us interrupted the planning.

We all turned to face the new potential threat.

A True North rebel, in boots a size too big and laces half-undone, barely a man, a boy dressed up for a fight he doesn’t understand and would never benefit from, rounded the corner, eyes wide with fear, he seemed not to see us even as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards us.

I wasn’t sure what happened first.

The discharging of my guard’s standard-issue firearm that seemed to stop the boy mid-motion as his chest was pierced, or the steel-stone-combination javelin that impaled him through the back of his head and speared him like a fish to the old, polished wood flooring, which now desperately needed repairing, with large splinters jutting up from where the spear lodged.

Blood spattered against the walls and dribbled down to the ruined floor.

“That’s new,” one of my guards commented.

“That’s Petra,” I replied, something like relief washing over me.

I tried to step forward past my guard, but I stumbled, my legs heavy and uncooperative.

Pheidon, a loyal guard since my childhood, caught me before I could fall.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” he apologised, blushing and staring squarely at the wall in front of him. It was the first time he had ever touched me.

“Venom,” I explained.

“Venom?” he repeated worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured, uncomfortable with the panic I heard in his voice.

It was Lydia’s venom. She was barely Ardens.

I was first Borealis. I took after my father in terms of my vampiric capabilities, but I was Ardens via my mother, and Ardens' venom would not, could not, kill me.

It could make me wish for death as it burned through my system, and likely temporarily paralysing me, but it would not send me on my way to the underworld.

As I struggled to stand on my own, Rylan turned the corner, his heavy boots coming to a sudden stop.

“You got him!” He yelled behind him.

“I told you I would,” Sasha laughed.

Rylan looked up from his singular vision on the very dead rebel, and his smile dropped to something acceptable of the situation.

“Enjoying the hunt?” I asked him. More than a little infuriated that he would return to me in such a fashion, as if this was some game, when I had sent him to find and protect what’s mine — and what’s mine was currently at the mercy of the maze.

Sasha came into view, breathing hard. “I never miss,” she continued before she saw me, her smile too dropping instantly. “Selene,” she said loudly, continuing to run past the boy, that she or my guards or perhaps both had simultaneously killed, and to me.

She wrapped her arms around me, and Pheidon moved his face awkwardly away from the interaction as he continued to support me.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Lydia stabbed me; she must have coated the blade in her venom,” I explained.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, releasing me and looking to the guard supporting my weight. He looked almost as embarrassed as Percy when I would pull her down into my lap during lunch at the Academy.

I missed Sanguis Academy and its relative safety and blissful privacy.

I missed it perhaps more so than even Percy seemed to.

But longing for the past was foolish; I had to build something new for us.

A life. A life that True North, all its offshoots and all its mirror adversaries further south were threatening.

Right now, it was True North; tomorrow, it could be another Vouna loyalist group, and I didn’t have the energy to even consider the rebel groups of the south or the possible implications of this attack.

All that mattered was getting everything here and now under control and retrieving Percy from the maze.

“Like Medusa is taking her time with me,” I replied.

“Paralysis?” she asked.

“Unfortunately.”

My body was becoming heavier with the effects of the venom attacking my legs and hands.

“How much Venom?” Rylan asked, crowding me further. Pheidon, supporting me, tried to shuffle back, almost losing his balance.

Rylan reached out and gripped his shoulder, keeping him still.

“Have you got her?” he asked seriously.

Pheidon straightened.

“With my life,” he promised.

“It won’t come to that,” I laughed and turned my attention to Rylan, “Percy is in the maze,” I told him.

“The maze?” Rylan and Sasha questioned together.

Yet their expressions of surprise were vastly different. Rylan was shocked, but Sasha’s heart rate spiked, and she appeared more concerned than surprised.

“What do you know of it?” I asked her.

“I might have suggested the Maze as a possible location to hide,” Sasha said quickly, “But I never meant for her to go in alone. I explained that the maze was created by the inter-coven magic of Petra and Flores, and that theoretically we could control it.”

“You suggested inter-coven magic?” I asked, truly shocked.

“As a last resort,” she defended, her voice growing defensive, feeling undoubtedly accused. Inter-coven magic was a death penalty. “Look at what’s happening, look at you!” she said pointedly. “Survive now, don’t die later, that was the plan.”

“A sound plan,” I agreed. “Anything that protects my pet is permissible. Do you think she might be able to use her magic alone to control the maze, even in part?” I questioned, because I knew Percy would try.

She wouldn’t let the maze take her, not without a fight, not without throwing everything she had at it.

Percy was a fighter, ingenious, and charming in such an affable manner that it was unguarding and inspiring.

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe, but maybe not,” Sasha answered.

“Probable or possible?” I questioned again.

She sighed heavily, pushing her dark hair out of her face.

“Probable,” she answered.

I smiled. Percy was safe for now. No one would be foolish or brave enough to follow her in. And if there was any realistic chance that anyone could manage the maze on their own, I’d place my life on my Percy being that anyone.

“What are the chances that Ardens Estate falls today?” I asked Rylan.

“Less than an hour ago, I would have described such a situation as inevitable, but recently there has been a marked decline in the number of rebel bodies. We’ve dispatched at least a dozen ourselves,” Rylan began, “It seems to be stragglers, those lost from their companions.”

“We observed rebels appearing to retreat just before we found you, Ma’am.

We were preparing to ambush a group of seven heading in this direction when they appeared to receive a new command and changed route, unexpectedly.

If it weren’t for Kostas’ excellent hearing, we would have kept following, but we found you,” Pheidon added.

“Retreating or regrouping?” I questioned aloud.

“We don’t have any intel,” Rylan continued. “I’ve been out of communication for some time. My radio took a hit early, in my first interactions with the rebels.”

“Ariston last checked in that his squad was going to offer support to Ardens' guardsmen at the main entrance. He implied it was a dire situation,” Pheidon explained.

I nodded. “He better not get half my Royal Guard killed,” I replied.

I hated having to replace any member of my Royal Guard.

Rylan handled most of the vetting, but it took so long to train them.

A new guard was a liability. I already had one new guard, Theo, after Yanis retired.

I didn’t particularly welcome the thought of replacing anyone else.

“It’s that bad?” Sasha asked, and I turned to her, my farewell to Adamantia at the forefront of my mind, and unable to hide my sympathy.

“What?” Sasha demanded.

“It appeared to be the epicentre of the attack,” I explained.

“Selene, speak truthfully, what are you hiding?” she asked, worry seeping into her voice.

“Ada refused to leave the battle with me.”

“Okay,” Sasha replied and immediately turned away from me.

I reached limply and managed to grip her shoulder.

“Sasha, it was chaos,” I warned.

She turned back to me.

“Would you not walk into chaos for your Percy?” she questioned. Of course I would. But Percy was my soul match. We were bonded in a way that so few others had ever experienced or could ever understand.

“It was certain death,” I explained.

“If death has taken my love, she will take me too. I will not abandon Adamantia. I chose to live this life with her, many years ago, before your birth. I choose her in life and in death. If today is the day we enter the long darkness together, then so be it,” she shrugged easily out of my grasp.

“Don’t sacrifice your life, Sasha. Ada knew what she was doing; she made that choice for herself. Not for you,” I pleaded. I couldn’t lose them both.

“Will you enter the maze for Percy?” she asked me.

“It’s different.”

“How so?” she asked, “Percy chose to enter the maze, a maze that offers only death to those who do. Yet you would follow her,” she continued. I didn’t reply. “Love is an action — a choice. Adamantia is my home. I will follow her anywhere.”

I could not argue with her. I would make the same choice.

“Go safely,” I encouraged.

Sasha nodded and continued on her way, her quick steps becoming a run.

“We need to get eyes on Percy in the maze,” I began, turning back to Rylan.

“We need to secure you first and then Percy,” he stated.

“I’m fine,” I argued.

“Hardly,” he replied. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but you can’t so much as stand unaided.

The venom will take days to leave your system.

We must ensure your safety until the paralysis effects wear off.

Once we secure you, we can begin the process of extracting Percy,” Rylan uncharacteristically challenged, “Is she safe for now?” he asked pointedly.

I tried again to feel her, to sense my pet through our link, but all I found was silence.

“I don’t know,” I could barely speak the words past my frustrated growl. “Why can’t I feel her?” I asked angrily.

“Only a day ago, you were complaining of the opposite,” Rylan replied.

“Your enchantments are holding well. That’s a good indicator.

If something was wrong, you would know; no enchantment could hold that back,” he said confidently, trying to reassure me.

I swallowed down the panic that fluttered in my chest.

“I want eyes on the maze. Pheidon, you will watch the maze. If anything changes, if it moves aggressively, I want an immediate report,” I commanded.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he agreed.

“Kostas,” Rylan commanded, “Take our Princess from Pheidon.”

I felt humiliated as I gripped hold of Kostas as best I could; he was shorter than I was, and a guard with whom I had little personal interaction. Most of my communication with the guard was via Rylan or Ariston in his absence.

“We’ve got company,” Kostas announced, a few moments before I, too, began to hear the untrained footsteps approaching. Kostas’ hearing was phenomenal.

It could only be rebels approaching, and I would be worse than useless in a fight.

“We’ve got this,” Pheidon assured.

“No, you don’t,” I told him. “Go and watch the maze.”

“Right,” he agreed, and infuriatingly turned to Rylan for confirmation.

Rylan nodded almost imperceptibly, and Pheidon turned to continue in the opposite direction from the approaching rebels.

“Almost every rebel we’ve encountered has been severely untrained. They have the numbers and weaponry, but we have the tactical advantage. We’ll get you to a secure location and retrieve Percy by nightfall,” Rylan promised.

I wanted to be soothed by his words, but the longer I was separated from Percy without any input from our bond, the more restless I became. Was she truly safe for now within the maze, or was it trying to consume her as I became more limp and useless in the arms of one of my guards?

But the ground had not shaken in that telltale sign of maze activity, and I tried to settle my mind.

I was not fond of the Gods.

I wasn’t sure I believed in them; I only ever prayed or made offerings to please my mother.

Still, I vowed a silent prayer that if Artemis were to protect just one young woman this day, just my Percy, I would sacrifice every deer in Ardens to her, I would create a new festival in her honour, I would braid my hair and gift the lot to her.