Chapter 33
THE WALLS CLOSE IN
Seraphina
The morning after I read Julia's journal, I find myself unable to stay in our chambers. The walls feel like they're closing in, the air too thick to breathe. Every time I close my eyes, I see her final words — Forgive me, beloved — written in a hand that knew death was coming.
My Omega instincts scream that something is wrong. That I'm in danger. That my unborn child is in danger.
The thin scar on my arm has already faded thanks to Ivy's healing magic, but I can still feel where his shadow sliced through my skin.
Can still see the horror on his face when he realized what he'd done.
Can still hear Julia's words echoing in my mind: His shadows don't obey him anymore.
They move with their own intent, reacting to emotions he can't control.
She was pregnant when she wrote those words. And now I'm pregnant, and his shadows are destabilizing again.
Coincidence? Or a pattern I'd be a fool to ignore?
I need answers. Real answers, not speculation based on a two-hundred-year-old journal. Julia wrote about a curse, about Malakai's father, about darkness spreading through him — but she didn't understand what was really happening. She died without knowing the full truth.
I won't make the same mistake.
The palace kitchens are quiet this early, most of the staff still preparing for the day's duties. I'm looking for someone old enough to remember, someone who might have actually witnessed what happened to Julia. Not court records that can be sealed or sanitized. Living memory.
I find her in the herb pantry — Mireth, one of the oldest servants in the palace.
Her silver hair gleams in the dim light, her ancient hands sorting through bundles of dried shadowleaf with the ease of centuries of practice.
She served here when Julia was alive. If anyone saw what really happened, it would be her.
"Lady Seraphina." She greets me without looking up, her voice like rustling leaves. "You're awake early. The other servants say you've been restless lately. Wandering the halls at odd hours."
Of course they've noticed. Nothing escapes the servants' network.
"I need to ask you something," I say quietly, glancing around to ensure we're alone. "About Lord Malakai's first wife. About Julia."
Her hands are still in the herbs. For a long moment, she doesn't move at all. Then, slowly, she sets down the bundle she was holding and turns to face me fully. Her eyes, still sharp despite her centuries, study me with an intensity that makes me want to look away.
"That's old pain, my lady. Best left buried."
"Please. I need to know what really happened. What you saw."
"What I saw." She repeats the words carefully, as if testing their weight. "Why would the new Lady of Shadows want to know about the old one? What good could it possibly do you?"
"Because I think history might be repeating itself."
The words hang between us. Mireth's expression shifts — something flickers in those ancient eyes. Recognition, perhaps. Or fear.
"You carry new life," she says softly. It's not a question.
My breath catches. My hand moves instinctively to my stomach before I can stop it. "How did you—"
"I've attended enough pregnant Omegas to recognize the signs, child.
The way you move. The way you protect your belly without realizing it.
The changes in your scent that no fairy glamour can fully mask.
" She shakes her head slowly. "Your secret is safe with me.
But if you're asking about Lady Julia now, in your condition.
.." She trails off, her expression troubled.
"Then you understand why I need to know."
Mireth is quiet for a long moment. Then she sighs, gesturing for me to sit on a small stool tucked between the herb shelves. She lowers herself onto a barrel across from me, her joints creaking with age.
"Lady Julia was light incarnate," she begins, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper.
"An Omega of such grace and warmth that even we shadow folk could feel it.
When she smiled, the whole palace seemed brighter.
And the Lord..." She pauses, something painful crossing her face.
"He was different then. Not the man you know.
He laughed. He was gentle. He looked at her like she was the only thing in all the realms that mattered. "
"What changed?"
"She became pregnant." Mireth's hands twist in her lap. "At first, everyone rejoiced. An heir for the Shadow Court, born of a true fated bond. The Lord was... I've never seen him so happy. So hopeful. He doted on her constantly, barely let her out of his sight."
"But something went wrong."
"Gradually. So gradually that at first, no one noticed.
" Her voice grows heavier. "Lady Julia started to weaken.
Grew pale, tired. The healers said it was normal — pregnancy takes its toll on Omegas.
But the Lord... his shadows started behaving strangely.
Flickering when they should have been still.
Reaching for things he wasn't commanding them to reach for. "
My blood runs cold. "Reaching for Julia?"
"Not at first. At first it was just objects. Candles snuffed out. Curtains torn. Small things that could be explained away." She meets my eyes. "But then there was the incident in the solar."
"What incident?"
Mireth's face goes pale with the memory. "I was there. Bringing Lady Julia her morning tea. She and the Lord were talking — about names, I think. Names for the baby. She reached out to touch his hand, and..." She stops, her voice catching.
"Tell me."
"His shadows erupted. Without warning, without cause. They lashed out at her — wrapped around her throat before he could stop them. I saw the bruises myself when we finally pulled her free. Dark marks in the shape of fingers, but made of shadow instead of flesh."
The parallel is too exact. Too terrifying.
"He didn't mean to do it," Mireth continues quietly. "I saw his face. The horror. The devastation. He locked himself away for three days afterward, refused to see anyone. When he emerged, he insisted Julia move to separate chambers. For her safety, he said."
"Did it help?"
"For a time. He kept his distance from her. Watched her from afar but wouldn't touch her, wouldn't get close. But..." She hesitates.
"But?"
"The separation seemed to make things worse.
Not better. Lady Julia grew weaker despite being away from him.
And his control... it deteriorated. There were other incidents.
A maid who startled him and ended up with a broken arm.
A courier who brought bad news and was pinned to the wall by shadows for nearly a minute before the Lord could release him. "
I think of the garden. The children are screaming. The frost spread across the grass. The shadow tendril that sliced my arm before Malakai could divert it.
"How did she die?" I ask, though I already know part of the answer from the journal. I need to know what Mireth saw.
The old woman's eyes fill with ancient sorrow. "I don't know exactly. No one does, except perhaps the Lord himself. She simply... stopped. One morning, she didn't wake. The healers said her heart gave out, that the pregnancy had drained too much from her."
"But you don't believe that."
"I believe she was dying long before her heart stopped." Mireth's voice is heavy with old grief. "I believe whatever darkness lives in the Lord, it was consuming her. Slowly. Inevitably. And when she finally passed..."
"What happened?"
"The Lord..." Mireth's voice drops even lower.
"When he found her, his grief nearly destroyed the palace.
The entire east wing collapsed from the force of his shadows.
Three servants died in the destruction. He didn't even seem to notice.
Just knelt there in the rubble, holding her body, making sounds that.
.." She shudders. "I've lived centuries, my lady.
I've heard many terrible things. But I've never heard anything like the sounds he made that day. "
"And the baby?"
"Gone with her. The healers think Lady Julia was too weak to carry to term.
The pregnancy drained something vital from her, though none of them could explain what or why.
" She reaches out, her gnarled hand covering mine.
"That's why I'm telling you this, child.
Because I see the same signs now. The Lord's shadows growing unstable.
You growing pale and tired. Whatever darkness lives in him, it responds to the bond.
To the pregnancy. And it doesn't end well. "
I stare at her, my heart pounding. "You think the same thing is happening to me."
"I think you should be very careful." Her grip tightens on my hand. "I think you should consider whether staying is worth the risk. To yourself. To your child."
"Are you telling me to leave?"
"I'm telling you what I saw." She releases my hand, her expression sorrowful. "What you do with that knowledge is your choice. But if I were carrying new life, and if I had seen what I've seen..." She doesn't finish the sentence. She doesn't need to.
I sit there for a long moment, processing everything she's told me.
The pattern is undeniable. Julia was pregnant, weakening, while Malakai's shadows grew violent and uncontrollable.
And now me — pregnant, already injured by shadows he couldn't control, watching him struggle against a darkness that seems to be winning.
"Thank you," I finally say, rising on unsteady legs. "For telling me the truth."
"I pray you use it wisely, my lady." Mireth returns to her herbs, her movements slower now, burdened. "And I pray your story ends differently than hers."
I leave the kitchen with her words echoing in my mind. Whatever darkness lives in him, it responds to the bond. To the pregnancy. And it doesn't end well.
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