Chapter 24 POISONED WORDS PART 2
"What happened?" Kael demanded.
A guard stepped forward. Pale. Shaking. "We do not know, Your Majesty. We heard screaming. When we arrived, they were already dead."
Aldric appeared. Looked at the bodies. His face went blank.
"Those were my personal guards. My friends." His eyes fixed on Kael. "Is this your answer to my proposal? Murder?"
"I did not do this."
"Then who did? Who else would benefit from sabotaging our alliance?" Aldric's voice rose. "You want me to leave. Want me out of your palace. Out of your queen's life. So you kill my people to force my hand."
"That is ridiculous. I would not—"
"Your Majesty!" Lyra burst in. "The seals. The Sanguine Vault seals. Something is wrong with them."
My blood went cold. "What do you mean wrong?"
"They are weakening. Cracking. Like something is feeding on them from the inside." She looked at me. "Your blood powered those seals. But if something is draining your power, they will fail."
I touched my chest. Felt the bond. Felt my magic.
Felt it being pulled. Siphoned. Drained.
"Someone is stealing my power," I said. "Feeding it to The First. Trying to free it again."
"Who would do that?" Kael asked.
"Someone who wants chaos. Who wants us blamed for deaths. Who wants the alliance to fail." I looked at Aldric. "Someone who benefits from us being enemies."
Understanding dawned on Aldric's face. "A third party. Playing us against each other."
"But who?" Kael looked around. "Who has access to Shadowborn magic? Who could drain Sera without her noticing?"
Then I felt it. A tug. A pull. Coming from somewhere close.
I followed the feeling. Down corridors. Past guards. To a small chamber.
Inside, Elder Voss stood over a ritual circle. My blood on the floor. Feeding magic into something dark.
"Voss?" Kael's voice was hollow. "You?"
"I am sorry, Your Majesty. But this is necessary." Voss turned to us. His ancient eyes sad. "The prophecy has two endings. I told you this. Save or destroy. You chose save. But I have seen the future that path leads to. And it is worse than destruction."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded.
"Your bond will doom the realm. Not today. Not tomorrow. But in time. You will consolidate too much power. Become too strong. And when you fall—and you will fall—the entire kingdom falls with you." He gestured to the ritual. "I am preventing that. Releasing The First. Letting it kill you both. So the realm can survive."
"You are insane," Kael breathed.
"I am pragmatic. I have lived eight hundred years. Watched kingdoms rise and fall. This is necessary." Voss's hand went to the ritual. "I am sorry it has to be this way."
The ritual flared. Magic exploded.
And beneath the palace, I felt The First break free.
Its scream shook the foundation. Hungry. Ancient. Coming for us.
"What have you done?" Aldric whispered.
"Saved the realm," Voss said. "At the cost of everything else."
The floor cracked. Black claws emerged. Then a head. Then the full body of The First pulling itself up from the deep.
It looked at us. Smiled with too many teeth.
"Round two," it said. "And this time, I am not going back in a cage."
Kael grabbed my hand. "Run. Everyone run."
We ran. With The First laughing behind us.
With Voss's betrayal fresh and bleeding.
With an ancient evil loose in the palace and no way to stop it.
This was not a diplomatic crisis anymore.
This was survival.
And I had no idea if we would make it through the night. And it was hungry.