C H A P T E R F I F T Y – T W O
C H A P T E R F I F T Y – T W O
Altair
“W here is she?!”
My voice thunders through the room, my fangs bared as I grip the trembling guard by his throat, lifting him off the ground with little effort. The shades in the room pulse and twist in time with my fury, curling around every object, thickening the air with darkness.
“Altair, release him.” Ailith's voice cuts through the haze of my anger, sharper than usual, a note of fear threading through her tone. That’s never happened before. Her fear is like a slap to my face.
I don’t let go.
“Al, stop !” Iolas’s voice, desperate, breaks through the madness as he storms into the room, grabbing my arm. His grip is firm, insistent. He pulls me back with enough force that I release the guard, who collapses to the floor gasping for air.
I breathe deeply.
I turn, slowly, my gaze locking onto Iolas’s.
“Fuck,” he rasps out, reading the shadows in my eyes. “ Leave !” he barks at the guard, who stumbles to his feet and flees without a second glance, the door slamming shut behind him. The guards who had been stationed outside her room after she left, not realising she wasn’t even in there because Iolas had told them to give her privacy.
But I can’t blame him. It’s as much my fault she slipped from our fingers. Due to the lingering traces of her blood in my system, I had felt a subtle hint of her sadness, anger and fear… assuming it had to do with our disagreement, and stayed at the ball to give her some time.
It was only when I knocked and entered to see how she was, to speak with her, that we realised she had gone.
The room falls into silence. A suffocating, oppressive silence, broken only by the crackling of shadows that still cling to the edges of the space. Darkness curls and writhes, waiting for direction, feeding off the storm inside me.
Ailith glares at Iolas, nostrils flaring, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Iolas, you stupid prick ,” she spits.
Because we both see it.
The guilt etched into his expression, the way his eyes won’t quite meet mine. And the scent... her scent. It clings to him, lingering in the air, wrapping itself around me like a vice. A scent I’ve grown so painfully familiar with. The scent that’s driven me to the brink of madness these past few weeks.
It’s hers.
I don’t breathe. I can’t. My chest tightens, painfully. The shades swirl, twisting faster, darker, like they can sense the violent rush of emotions that threaten to consume me.
For someone who’s been called heartless, it sure feels like mine is being ripped from my chest right now.
I force myself to look at him—my closest friend, my brother in arms. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t defend himself. He just watches me, carefully, his eyes flicking to the swirling blackness in my irises. He knows what’s coming. He knows how close I am to losing control.
And yet, through the pain and jealousy roaring inside me, I know him. I know he wouldn’t have done anything she didn’t want.
But I need to know. “Was she all right?”
Iolas’s jaw tightens, and he meets my gaze, unflinching. “Yes. I left her in her room. She must have run out before the guards got there. A few minutes tops.”
I nod, swallowing hard, fighting back the darkness that surges, hungry for an outlet. He wouldn’t lie. He wouldn’t... But it doesn’t ease the ache in my chest.
“Al, I’m sorry,” Iolas says, his voice quieter, rough with guilt. “I promise, it just ha p? —”
“I don’t have time for this,” I snap, cutting him off. “All I care about right now is finding her.”
Because the fear claws at my chest, threatening to rip apart the thin veil of control I’m holding onto. I can feel the shades thrumming around us, reacting to the chaos inside me. Every second, they grow wilder, darker.
A pause. Iolas glances at Ailith, who’s gone unnervingly still, her eyes narrowing as if she can sense something coming. The air shifts.
“Your Majesty!”
A guard runs into the room, breathing hard.
“What is it?” I reply, standing straighter, already bracing for the worst.
“Message from a civilian,” The guard is rushed, panicked. “They spotted the Queen in a carriage near the border.”
“The border?” My mind races, my heart pounding in my chest. I had traced her scent to the gardens, and then… nothing. How would she have left the palace?
There’s a pause, and I can hear the messenger’s hesitation before he speaks. “With... with King Casius, sir.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice. She wouldn’t have left with him. Willingly…
Iolas steps closer, his face pale, the words sinking in. “There’s no way she would’ve left on her own accord.”
“I know,” I growl, pacing, my mind racing. “I know she didn’t go willingly.”
Ailith speaks up, her voice colder than ice. “So Casius took her.”
Iolas mutters. “Was this his plan all along? Why he agreed to come for talks?”
My hands clench into fists, and the shades swell around me, swirling faster, darker. My vision narrows as the rage inside me builds, a fury I can barely contain. I can’t breathe. The thought of her with him, of her alone with him...
The thought of what I still haven’t told her.
“What do we do, Al?” Iolas asks, his voice low, tense. He’s waiting for my command.
There’s only one option. Only one path to take. My eyes darken, the shadows deepening, and I feel the decision settle over me like a cloak of midnight.
“Ailith. Gather the Ombresang. We return to war.”