40. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
Seok
The clicking of my shackles behind my back sounded through the glossy, black corridors of the palace.
I was escorted by ten guards, their heavy boots marching with a resounding rhythm.
Most of their faces brought an unwelcome familiarity—those I helped Iskra train.
At least the guards were vigilant, their eyes sharp and weapons ready.
I’d hate for them to betray my own teachings, even if they were being used against me. Loyalty and duty are fickle things.
Anger simmered within me, beneath my calculated smirk, its heat directed not only at the Queen for all of her terrible mistakes and misconceptions or at Ren for ratting me out—I was also angry at the cruelty of fate, that Ayse now had to navigate her escape without my guidance and protection.
I hoped my preparations for her would be enough.
As we stood before the ornately carved wooden entrance to the Queen’s chambers, a single guard knocked twice, the sound echoing through the silent hallway. The door swung open, and we treaded onward and inward until I stood in the Queen’s study.
Queen Xia’s office gleamed, as always, with an abundance of white, and I blinked slowly as my eyes adjusted from the black, starkly contrasting hallway, that too-familiar, uncomfortable tightness cinching around my chest.
She sat behind her marble desk, wearing a decadent, shimmering gown that hung on her frame like dripping melted gold. It was always opulence over practicality with her. A pained, almost sorrowful expression etched into her perfect Elven features.
“Leave us,” she commanded. The guards exited the room, the shuffling of armor breaking the silence as I stared into the black depths of the Queen’s eyes, searching for any scrap of understanding. I found none.
Rising from her chair, she leaned toward me against the white and gray stone of the desk. “You have been up to things you shouldn’t be, dear Seok.”
I stood still, refusing to shrink or balk, refusing to let her show the effect she had on me. But I wouldn’t give her a reason to suspect Ayse was still in the palace either. Dammit. I hope she can get out of here tonight. Unharmed.
“Your actions jeopardize the safety and stability of our kingdom, not to mention your own personal well-being,” the Queen continued, her tone unwavering. “I will not tolerate such blatant disobedience, especially from my own son.”
Of course not. Not when she had one perfect son and desperately wished for two. Not when she kept me under her thumb, caged in the palace walls. My body ached as I kept it on a tight leash, keeping it from thrashing, from rebelling, from falling over.
“I’m thankful I was informed of your actions, though I wish I’d been made aware of them sooner. I have a feeling that your brother has known to some degree what you’ve been up to for quite a while.” The corners of her lips turned down slightly. “It’s very disappointing, as you might imagine.”
I could. I was equally disappointed in him for always putting his duty to our mother before doing what was right. He knew that I was the one who killed Marcelo, knew, and yet he still would let Ayse—sweet, innocent Ayse—pay the ultimate price for my actions.
“Let’s not delay further. Come on in,” the Queen called, raising her voice so it could be heard through the closed door.
Bitterness swept through me as the door creaked open. My eyes looked down at the floor, not wanting to watch Ren stride in, to face the soft trace of guilt in his eyes that I knew would be there.
The Queen cleared her throat. Or did she? I looked up at the sound of the feminine “ahem” to see not my brother standing in the office but a pale blonde woman in a striking, icy blue dress.
“Gloria has proven most helpful over the last few hours,” the Queen said as she sauntered across the ivory rug, golden silk trailing on the floor behind her. She stopped beside Gloria, placing a hand on the snitch’s bare shoulder.
Gloria’s face was smug. My fists clenched where they were cuffed behind my back. Never have I wanted to punch a lady of the court as much as I did now. Not that she was a noble anymore, but still… The sentiment stood.
“My dear.” The Queen turned to stand in front of her. “You’ve done a great service to the crown, risking your safety to confirm my son’s misguided actions and proving your loyalty despite the actions of your father.”
Gloria’s smile widened, and she inclined her head in acknowledgment. “I live to serve the crown of Ittora, Your Majesty.”
Her gaze met mine, proud and vengeful, stroking my anger. I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth, jaw tense.
The Queen smoothed out an invisible wrinkle on the blue gown. “And that loyalty shall be rewarded, Lady Gloria.”
I held back a scoff and kept my face straight, refusing to take the bait.
There was only one reason Gloria needed to be revealed as the one who ratted me out, to have her nobility restored in front of me like this: to rile me up.
I knew from years of studying military tactics that bringing the heat of emotions into an interrogation was an effective technique.
Unchecked emotions threw caution to the wind.
Unchecked emotions could reveal the truth.
“Congratulations, Lady Gloria,” I said, meeting the newly restored lady’s grin with a tight smile of my own, causing hers to falter. The sight only made my smile widen.
Before the Queen could respond to my pleasantry, a light rapping came from the ornate office door.
“Yes?” the Queen answered.
“Your Majesty, I’ve brought what you requested,” a familiar voice sounded from the other side.
Not someone I particularly wanted to see right now, either.
“You may let yourself in, General.”
Keyera swung open the door and stepped inside, carefully cradling the Queen’s long scepter in her hands. Bowing at the waist, she presented the silver rod.
Next to the Queen and Lady Gloria, the general looked woefully out of place.
Her dark, pantsed military uniform alone, standard issue black fatigues with plated silver armor over top, contrasted with the bright white of the office and the light, sparkling dresses on the others.
Their soft, delicately curling, perfectly arranged hair juxtaposed the thick, rope-like strands pulled back from her face.
Keyera’s petite, but lethal silhouette, built entirely of muscle, seemed less intimidating than usual, her dark, short stature accentuating the tall, pale, feminine figures of the Queen and Lady Gloria.
My focus stayed firmly on her, a beacon of darkness amidst my harsh white surroundings.
“Thank you, General.” Taking the scepter in her hands, the Queen shifted her attention to Keyera as the general rose from her bow. “Please have a few guards escort Lady Gloria back to her newly upgraded chambers.”
With her right arm across her chest, her hand settled over her heart, General Keyera nodded and ushered Gloria out the door. She spoke with another guard just outside before shutting herself in the office with me and the Queen.
Ah. Here is where things get interesting.
The two individuals with the highest likelihood of absolutely obliterating me stood together silently, staring, boring holes into my skin. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck.
I clutched my hands behind my back, attempting to dispel the feeling of stones weighing down on my stomach and the tightness around my chest. My eyes wouldn’t leave that damn scepter. Truly, I wasn’t afraid for myself. I still held out hope that Ayse was escaping, despite the odds.
“Even if the girl has escaped the castle walls, or even the castle grounds, we will find her.” My eyes didn’t move from the scepter to meet the Queen’s gaze as she spoke.
“There are guards and Ittoran soldiers combing the streets of Kagé City for her. She will be recaptured, and she will pay for her crimes.”
My stomach churned with her promise, the fear that her words would become reality.
But I couldn’t let that show now without risking her assuming Ayse was still in the palace.
Instead, I latched onto my anger, letting it flood my senses.
How dare she threaten to take another precious person from me?
The rage pounded in my chest, radiating through my arms and jaw, a fiery antidote to the paralyzing dread that threatened to overtake me.
Queen Xia rounded her desk and settled back into her chair, the fatal scepter laid across her lap like a regal ornament. General Keyera remained standing, a dark and solid presence, separate from the bright, pristine office. Her flinty gaze remained fixed on me, an anchor in the sea of white.
“Seok,” the Queen began, her voice maintaining an air of regality but tinged with… something else. “Please. My dear child.” I plastered a dry smile on my lips to keep away a scowl, hoping that my face wouldn’t betray me and start twitching.
“I simply want to understand. You aided a Fey infiltrator guilty of treason and murder. Why?”
I took a measured breath before speaking. “Ayse is not who you think she is. She’s not a Fey, and she’s not guilty of treason or murder.”
General Keyera’s expression remained stoic, her keen eyes assessing my response.
“Seok, according to Lady Gloria’s account, you snuck away to the dungeons, where presumably you were in close quarters with this girl.
Perhaps many times.” Lurking beneath the Queen’s calm exterior, I could sense a subtle hint of her disapproval.
“How did you find yourself in such a position? Did she use her Fey powers to manipulate you?”
My brows furrowed, a mixture of frustration and disbelief. “She doesn’t have Fey powers. She’s just a girl. A girl who doesn’t deserve to be punished for crimes she didn’t commit.”
General Keyera’s cold voice cut through the air, sharp and direct. “Unfortunately, your opinion is irrelevant, Your Highness. What matters is the safety and integrity of both yourself and our kingdom. Something that you blatantly disregarded.”
Part of what Keyera said was right. I had acted in a way that could have jeopardized the safety of others—if Ayse was a Fey. But she hated the Fey. She wasn’t one of them.
I had seen her starvation up close, the hollow edges of her struggle, and the countless ways I—and all of Ittora—had failed her. It was her safety that mattered now.
Finally, I tore my eyes from the scepter, lifting my attention to Keyera.
“Ayse is guiltless and has already suffered too much at the direction of the crown. I can’t and won’t stand by idly and watch someone innocent be punished so cruelly.” My fists pulled tight behind my back, the hard iron of the shackles cutting into my wrists.
“I am the one who killed Marcelo, not Ayse. Because stalking Captain Iskra wasn’t enough. Because emotionally breaking Ayse and branding her wasn’t enough. No. That sick bastard abused his power to assault Ayse, groping her, and after he was reprimanded for unprofessional conduct, he beat her!”
The white room was leaving my mind—replaced by red, red, red. There was no room for fear with this much hurt and anger festering inside of me. The muscles in my arms and neck corded thickly as I struggled to keep myself rooted where I stood.
Thankfully, Keyera had the decency to look vaguely appalled under her stern, furrowed brow. As if she didn’t know about Marcelo’s wicked ways before this moment.
The Queen’s gaze bore into mine, her eyes glinting with a mix of anger and disappointment. The tension was thick between us, a silent accusation hanging in the air like a storm about to break.
“Seok,” she began, her voice calm yet cutting, each word meticulously chosen. “I can see the Fey’s influence in your actions.”
As she continued, her voice reverberated like poison through the room, as if the very air had turned against me.
“No child of mine would willingly involve himself with their kind.”
My long breaths came out forcefully now, weighty, full of the tension coiled within me.
“And whether that girl truly transfixed your mind to kill a member of the Ittoran army, or simply to take the fall for her, whether you believe your own words to be true, it is clear to me that you have been brainwashed beyond reason. Your actions jeopardize the stability we have worked so tirelessly to maintain.”
She rose, holding her scepter tall. Pressure tightened around my chest like a vise, the edges of my vision blurring as my gut dropped. Shit. This is not how I expected this to go.
The Queen stood at full height now, regal and unyielding and cruel.
There was no scrap left of the mother who held me as a child when I was sick and crying out from the pain, who laughed at my father's jokes, who read Ren and I stories every night before kissing our cheeks and tucking us in.
That woman had been gone for many years.
She extended her arm and a radiant glow emanated from the tip of the scepter.
An intricate pattern of light unfolded through the office, forming a brilliant lattice and encapsulating me in a small radiant prison.
I backed up in surprise, my hand brushing against the concentrated bars of light. Fuck. They burned.
Nausea overtook me. Cursing, I fell to my knees, pulling desperately on the shadows in the room to help me escape but was met with nothing. The brightness around me banished them from my reach.
“I am sorry, my son, that it had to come to this.” For a fleeting moment, she almost looked remorseful. Like a mother who cared.
But I knew the cold truth. She cared for control, and control alone.
“May you reflect on the consequences of your actions while we find a way to save your mind, starting with ridding the realm of that wretched woman.”
Her words sliced through me, each one a blade of searing truth as she moved toward the door, her skin glowing with an almost unbearable radiance and the tip of her scepter casting an unsettling light.
The general stayed behind for a moment, her unyielding gaze locking with mine, a stark, grounding contrast to the brightness of the Queen.
Then the door snapped shut, cutting off my last connection to the whispers of shadows beyond.
I fought to keep my stomach from heaving, my emotions swirling into a tempest of agony, rage, and disgust. I felt like a caged beast, trapped in this luminous prison where my shadows—my only solace—couldn't reach me, couldn’t aid me.
But they could still help Ayse. That thought, burning with desperation, was the only thing that kept me from tearing myself apart.
A scream ripped from my chest as I bellowed into the night, begging it to save her.