Chapter 166 Kael lies

Chapter 166 Kael lies
Seraphine POV

The first thing I saw was the blood. Not the messenger coming through the palace gates, not the guards dragging him, not the shouts filling the air. Just the blood. It was a thick, dark red, smeared across the front of his shirt, dripping from his arm, his side, his face. Every step he took left another messy streak in the stone courtyard.

People froze. Then the chaos hit. Someone yelled for the healer. Another shouted, “Move!” The gates slammed open. The injured wolf barely made it to the stairs before his legs gave out. Two guards caught him just in time.

I was walking with Agora after yet another draining lesson when everything exploded into panic. Suddenly, everyone, servants, warriors ran straight toward the entrance. My stomach dropped. Something was wrong, and not just the usual palace drama. This was bad.

Beside me, Agora stiffened. He was all alpha, instinct jumping into action... leader, protector, sensing danger before anyone else. He was already moving. I rushed after him. The crowd drew back the second they saw him. The injured wolf was out of it, barely conscious. Mud smeared his boots, his clothes were torn up, a set of deep claw marks ran across his chest. Every breath sounded like it hurt.

He looked up, saw me, and suddenly relief flooded his face. His knees wobbled. “Princess…” His voice was barely more than a whisper. Agora caught him before he hit the stone. The wolf grabbed Agora’s sleeve, weak, desperate. “Letter,” he managed. “Must…reach her…” Then he fainted.

For a beat, the courtyard went utterly silent. I stared as Agora carefully dug through the messenger’s torn cloak, found a hidden pocket, and pulled out a folded, sealed piece of parchment.

My heart sped up. I already knew who it was from. Wildfire. The rebels.

Agora’s face darkened as he glanced at the guards. “Everyone out.” Nobody argued. The space emptied real fast, leaving only a few trusted warriors behind. The messenger was whisked away to the healers. Agora steered me toward a private room, and the walk felt strange, unreal. My head was buzzing. The rebels would never send someone this far unless things had gone really, really wrong, and judging by the state of the messenger, yeah, something bad had happened.

The door clicked shut. For a second, neither of us moved. The letter stayed in Agora’s hand, and I couldn’t look away. Finally, I whispered, “Open it.”

He met my eyes. I saw the worry there. He knew whatever was inside wasn’t going to be good. Slowly, he broke the seal. The sound of parchment was suddenly louder than anything in the world. I moved closer so I could read over his shoulder.

The handwriting belonged to one of the rebel leaders, the same woman who pressed Selene’s token into my palm before we left Wildfire. My chest got tight.

Agora read aloud. “To Princess Seraphine.” The words made me flinch.

He went on. “Forgive the danger of this message.” My stomach twisted.

“We have no safer way to contact you.” Every line landed heavy.

“We fear time is running out.” Something cold slithered into me.

Agora kept reading. “After your departure, Alpha Kael intensified his campaign against suspected rebels.” My hands clenched. I knew things were bad, but not this bad.

“Arrests now happen daily.” My chest squeezed in.

“Entire families disappear overnight.” A chill ran through me.

Agora’s jaw tightened, but he read on. “Anyone connected to Selene’s memory is questioned.” My breathing slowed. I could see where this was going.

The letter shook a little in Agora’s grip. “Several elders have died during interrogation.” My stomach lurched. I couldn’t look... couldn’t picture it. But my mind went there anyway. The rebels, the old woman, the healer, the servant who called me princess, the wolves who helped us, the people who risked everything. All suffering because of me. Just because I exist. Because Kael is terrified of the truth.

The guilt slammed into me. Agora must’ve noticed as his hand found mine, warm, steady, trying to anchor me. But it didn’t erase the guilt. He kept reading, and the room felt colder with every word.

“Kael claims foreign influence corrupted Wildfire.” I squeezed my eyes shut. Of course he did.

“He says enemies manipulated the princess.” Bitterness twisted in my chest, he was still rewriting history, still lying, still hurting people.

“Many believe him.” That hurt. Fear always wins. Fear is easier than truth, easier than hope.

Then Agora stopped, his face dark. I looked up. “What?”

He hesitated, then finished the line. “Public executions are being discussed.”

The silence was absolute. I couldn’t process it. Public executions, not arrests, not jails, executions. My stomach dropped so hard I nearly lost it.

“No.” The word slipped out.

Agora said nothing. He couldn’t argue; the letter was clear. Kael was escalating again. The reality hit me in the chest, people were going to die. More people. Good people, whose only crime was believing the truth, believing in Selene, believing in me.

I hated that idea. Believing in me. What had I done, really? I escaped. I left. I came home. But they stayed behind, suffering, waiting.

The guilt was crushing. I sank into a chair; for a second, the room blurred. Agora crouched by me, hand on my knee, steady, keeping me from falling apart. I focused on breathing, just one breath, then another, and another.

Eventually, Agora picked up the letter again; only a few lines left. The final part.

This was it. The moment everything changed.

I saw it on his face before he said a word. His eyes crawled across the page, slow and careful. He let out a heavy sigh.

I couldn’t help it, I asked, “What is it?” My voice sounded tiny. Too small for how big this moment felt.

He looked up at me, and then he read the last lines, voice steady. “The people have not forgotten.”

My chest squeezed tight. I barely breathed as he kept going.

“The truth survives.”

Tears burned my eyes right away. God, I wanted that to be true. I needed it.

He finished the letter. No frills, just the words, plain and fierce: “The people are waiting for their princess.”

Silence crashed over us. The words just hung there, echoing, like they were stitched into the walls or the air itself.

Waiting. For their princess.

My throat closed. Not just from emotion, that title had never felt this heavy or this real. Not before.

It wasn’t about blood. Not about crowns or birthright. People were hurting, and somehow, they believed I mattered. They believed I could make things better. They believed I could save them.

The weight of that nearly broke me.

I stared at the floor. Couldn’t talk. Couldn’t think straight. I had to remind myself to breathe.

Princess. That word had chased me everywhere, across everything I was and wasn’t. Kingdoms. Borders. Lies and truths, all tangled up until now. And now it found me. Caught me, really.

I wasn’t a servant girl anymore. Or a secret. Or the missing child. To them? I was hoping.

And hope is terrifying.

We sat in that silence for a long time. Finally, Agora folded the letter, slow and careful, his face a knot of worry, thought, protectiveness... everything at once.

I looked at him. The man who found me, defended me, cared for me. The one who stood by me through every horrible truth.

A question rose inside me, sharp and frightening. I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer.

I forced myself to look him in the eye. My voice barely made it out.

“What happens…” I almost choked on the words, but I finished. “What happens if Wildfire asks me to come back?”

And the silence that answered me... well, that silence was the most dangerous thing of all.