Chapter 52 The Sovereigns Silence
The silence of the cell was absolute. I lay on the cold floor, Silas’s words echoing in my mind.
Stop my heart. It was a classic Sovereign technique—the 'Death-Sleep' used by ancient queens to survive the Great Frost. But it required a level of control I had never mastered. I had always been the fire, the storm, the explosion. I didn't know how to be the still, frozen lake.
I thought of the twins. I thought of the way Leo had looked at the silver water in Selene. I thought of Killian’s hand on my back.
“Breath is a choice,” my mother’s voice whispered in my memory—a real memory this time, from the days before the ravine.
“The wolf lives in the breath, but the Queen lives in the silence between the beats.”
I closed my eyes.
I didn't reach for the magic. I reached for the cold.
I visualized the frost crawling up my veins, not as a weapon, but as a blanket.
I slowed my breathing—ten seconds in, twenty seconds out.
My heart rate began to drop.
Thump.
.. thump... thump...
The silver collar hummed louder, sensing the change.
It pulsed with blue light, trying to jump-start my nervous system, but I pushed the cold deeper.
I became a statue of ice.
Thump.....
.. thump.......
The pain was agonizing.
My lungs screamed for air, and my brain began to fire panic signals.
But I held the silence.
Thump.......
........
The collar gave one final, violent jolt, and then—click.
The red light on the restraint went dark.
The hum died. The weight of the suppressants lifted, and for a heartbeat, I was truly dead.
Then, the silver fire inside me roared.
It wasn't a spark anymore; it was an inferno.
My heart restarted with a violent, rhythmic thud that shattered the chrome collar into a thousand pieces.
I stood up, my eyes glowing with a white light that filled the room.
I wasn't just a Queen anymore. I was the Sovereign of the Void.
I walked to the door and touched the lock.
It didn't just open; it disintegrated.
"I'm coming for you, Lilith," I whispered into the cold, sterile air.
"And I'm bringing the winter with me."