Chapter 56 #3
Rune saw the changes in her, saw the dark circles under her eyes. He asked, but she dismissed his concern with a smile, changing the subject.
Each time Alora woke trembling from her nightmares, Rune had already left for the day, and she was grateful he wasn’t there to hear her screams. She could not stand the thought of him looking at her the way her father had once looked at her mother.
Like she had gone mad.
The voice spoke of freedom.
Alora thought of containment. There had to be a way to stop him.
“Alora?” Rune stroked her cheek, startling her out of her thoughts. “I must go. The Blood Moon rises.”
She gasped softly and looked out the window. The sky was burnt crimson, the full moon glowing red and that terrifying presence lingering on the other side of the veil.
“The Sleeping Curse…” She murmured, her eyes widening.
It was the day it would be broken.
“After tonight, everything will change.” Rune kissed her head.
“But you haven’t told me how?” she said.
His thumb caressed her cheek. “The eclipse is the source and the key. The one night when the veils thin and magic restores what should never have been altered.”
Alora opened her mouth to reply but no words came. She watched Rune slip out the door as understanding hit her with terrible clarity.
The key…
Vorak wanted her power, so the only answer was to lock it away.
Permanently.
Reaching into the pocket of her dress, she pulled out the crimson spindle in her trembling hand.
Sleep opens the door… then a dreamless sleep might seal it.
As if Vorak sensed her plan, the wind howled outside and his shadowless form appeared on the mirror.
“Daughter.”
Alora flinched at the coldness in his tone.
“What are you doing?”
A sharp smile rose to her lips. Then her instincts were right, because she heard more than anger in his voice. “You gave me the key to unlock your door, Vorak. But keys work both ways.”
“Alora.”
She ignored his sharp warning and the growing shadows rattling the cabin as she threw on her cloak.
A gust blew against her as she dashed out of the door, searching for Rune.
“Defy me and I will kill him.”
Still, she ran, as that presence chased her through the forest. “Rune!”
He was nowhere to be found. The land turned red beneath the Blood Moon, and the shadows surged around her.
Power surged in her veins. Markings flickered on her arms, glowing like white roots. Magic throbbed in her chest, guiding her through the night.
A tree cracked and reformed, turning into an opening of light. Alora spared no time to think. She leaped through the portal and fell before shadowed feet.
She looked up at a horned creature with glowing red eyes. Eyes she recognized.
“Rune…” she whispered, falling back.
He stared at her, inhaling a sharp breath. Leathery wings twitched above his shoulders. And behind him lingered hounds made of bone and darkness, growling. Shadows curled between his clawed hands, as if she had caught him in the middle of making more creatures from the dark.
More like him.
Demons.
“Alora…” Rune breathed, lifting his hands slowly, palms open. His claws retracted, the shadows thinning at his sides as though he were forcing them back by sheer will. “It’s all right, songbird…”
It was the way his voice shook that struck her first. Not the horns or the wings flexing behind him. Not the hounds prowling low at his back like living nightmares.
His throat bobbed with a swallow, holding himself still as if one wrong movement might shatter something fragile between them. His crimson eyes searched her face with naked, aching dread.
As though he were bracing for her to recoil.
For her to scream.
To look at him and finally see what the world had always seen.
A monster.
The thought sent a painful twist through her chest. Rune stopped himself from coming any closer. As if the distance between them were a chasm he dared not cross.
“Don’t be afraid,” Rune swallowed, the word scraped raw from his throat. “I would sooner tear myself apart than harm you.”
The words trembled in the air with a silvery sheen, desperate and unguarded. This was the secret he had hidden all along, the truth he had dreaded to share.
His shadows curled tighter around his clawed feet, clinging to him as though to shield him. His wings twitched once, betraying nerves he could not hide, and her heart trembled at the sight.
He was petrified.
“Alora,” Rune said again, softer now, his voice stripped of its usual velvet sway. “Please…”
Tears gathered on her lashes. All she had wanted was to be with him.
“You cannot change your fate, daughter.”
Her wide eyes flickered past him as the clouds parted, revealing Vorak’s red, slitted eye in the moon.
“I will rip the magic from your veins, but before I do, I rip him apart in front of your first.”
Alora shook her head, stumbling back. Rune reached for her and she screamed.
“No! Stay away from me!”
The power she held gave her speed and she fled through the trees as if on wind. Vorak wouldn’t touch him if he was chasing her instead. But Rune gave chase as well. Both were on her tail. And there was no time to explain.
The only way to save them was to curse herself.
She came out onto a cliffside that looked over the Kingdom of Argyle. The spindle vibrated in her hand.
She shut her eyes and thought of Rune. Forgive me.
Before she could change her mind, Alora pricked her finger.
Blood swelled bright and warm, spilling onto the grass. The earth answered at once, flowers tearing free from the soil in a rush of crimson light. She knew no spells, but one.
How to weave will through song.
Alora closed her eyes, letting her voice fill the sky.
Fall into the hush of endless sleep,
Seal the light the dark would keep,
Close the door where dreaming lies,
For love I fall, for love I rise.
Magic lifted from her in a spiral of white light, unwinding from her body like breath released at last. The world seemed to exhale with her, settling into a vast, aching stillness.
All strength fled her limbs and she fell.
Soft blooms caught her as she sank back, their crimson glow dimming as the magic sealed itself away, petals wilting beneath her.
“Alora?” Strong arms gathered her close. Rune’s face swam in her blurred vision, terror laid bare in his eyes. “Alora! No, please,” he said, his voice breaking. “Please, love, don’t leave me.”
She tried to speak but she had no will for that anymore.
He lifted his head to the blood-stained sky and begged, “Don’t do this. Don’t take her. I will never forgive you for this. Never. Nothing in this world will be spared from my rage. I will destroy it all!”
Tears slid down Alora’s temples as her eyes fell closed. The agony in his please cleaved straight through her soul, deeper than the spell ever could. Only in her death did she realize her choice had pushed him fully into darkness.
But it was too late to go back.
As her final breath slipped from her lips, the last thing she heard was Rune’s heart wrenching scream.
Alora woke with a soft gasp, taking a moment to recognize her chambers in Argyle. She looked down at her arms, the glowing markings now glinting red. Her magic was fully surfaced. And so had her memories.
Rune…
His name bloomed in her soul like a rose forged from ash, stealing her breath. She braced a hand against the desk, breathing hard, the phantom ache of his pain trembling through the bond.
No, this was the pain he was feeling now.
Alora looked to the shadows in the corners of the room, gathering there with the sunset.
Alora straightened slowly. Her white markings glowed faintly, edged with crimson light.
What was a queen without her king?
“Come,” she commanded.
The shadows surged, swirling in a spiral before her like a blooming flower of midnight. Their response was instant, as if they had been waiting.
And she whispered, “Take me to him.”
A portal of darkness swirled open, humming with Netherworld power and blooming magic.
And she went home.