Chapter 42: Discussing My Murder
Nobody spoke.
Not even Jacob.
And Jacob had somehow become the unofficial spokesperson for confused people.
The ruins stood silent beneath the moonlight.
Lena stared at Caelum.
The king.
The actual king.
The one person nobody had mentioned.
Not once.
Not Seraphine.
Not Orion.
Not Lyra.
Not Caleb.
Nobody.
Which immediately raised a question.
A very important question.
"If you were the king..."
Lena folded her arms.
"Then where the hell have you been?"
Jacob nodded.
"That's a fantastic question."
A few members of the Ash Court agreed.
One even applauded.
Caelum sighed.
Deeply.
Like a man already regretting waking up.
"I was dead."
Silence.
Then Jacob blinked.
"What?"
"I was dead."
The answer remained annoyingly simple.
Lena stared.
"You seem pretty alive."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know."
To Lena's surprise, Caelum looked amused.
Then the amusement faded.
His gaze shifted toward the ruins.
Toward the broken throne.
Toward memories only he could see.
"They killed me."
The temperature seemed to drop.
No one interrupted.
No one joked.
The weight in his voice was unmistakable.
"I remember the blade."
His eyes became distant.
"I remember falling."
His hand clenched.
"I remember the palace burning."
The ruins fell silent.
Then he looked directly at Lena.
"And I remember you screaming."
The words hit her like a punch.
A memory flickered.
A throne room.
Blood on white marble.
Someone collapsing.
A silver crown rolling across the floor.
And a child screaming.
The image vanished.
Lena staggered.
Again.
The memories were getting stronger.
Longer.
More detailed.
And she hated it.
Because every memory hurt.
Every single one.
"Who killed you?"
The question came from Orion.
Caelum laughed.
A bitter laugh.
The kind people used when discussing old wounds.
"If I knew that, we wouldn't be standing here."
That got everyone's attention.
Even Seraphine looked surprised.
"You never saw them?"
Caelum shook his head.
"No."
The answer unsettled everyone.
A king murdered.
A kingdom destroyed.
And nobody knew who started it.
Something about that felt wrong.
Dangerously wrong.
Then Lyra spoke.
"The Ash Court searched for centuries."
Caelum looked at her.
"And?"
Her expression darkened.
"And we found nothing."
The ruins became quiet again.
Then suddenly...
Lena's phone vibrated.
Everyone jumped.
Including Lena.
The absurdity nearly made her laugh.
Ancient kings.
Forgotten kingdoms.
Supernatural courts.
And somehow her phone still had service.
The screen lit up.
Unknown Number.
Again.
Lena frowned.
"Seriously?"
She opened the message.
Immediately wished she hadn't.
The color drained from her face.
Caleb noticed first.
"What happened?"
Lena didn't answer.
Couldn't.
Her hands had started shaking.
Slowly she turned the screen toward them.
The image showed the ruins.
The exact ruins they were standing in.
Taken from above.
Recent.
Very recent.
Aerial.
Impossible.
Because nobody should have been able to take it.
Not without being here.
The message beneath it contained only one sentence.
LOOK BEHIND YOU.
Every instinct in Lena's body screamed.
She turned.
Nothing.
Just ruins.
Broken pillars.
Moonlight.
Silence.
Then Jacob pointed.
Wordlessly.
Everyone followed his gaze.
A figure stood atop a distant archway.
Watching them.
Nobody had seen them arrive.
Nobody had sensed them.
Not Seraphine.
Not Orion.
Not Caelum.
Nobody.
The figure stood completely still.
Face hidden.
Body wrapped in black.
Watching.
The sight alone made Lena uneasy.
But what happened next terrified everyone.
Caelum froze.
The king actually froze.
Seraphine went pale.
Orion cursed.
Lyra whispered something Lena couldn't hear.
Nobody looked confused.
Nobody looked curious.
They looked horrified.
The figure slowly raised one hand.
Then waved.
Casually.
Almost playfully.
Like an old friend greeting people across the street.
Caelum's expression hardened instantly.
"No."
The word came out low.
Dangerous.
"No."
Lena looked at him.
"What?"
The king's eyes never left the stranger.
His entire body had become rigid.
Like a soldier facing an enemy he never wanted to see again.
Then the figure spoke.
The voice carried effortlessly across the ruins.
Warm.
Friendly.
Terrifying.
"Hello, everyone."
The voice sent a violent shock through Lena's memories.
Something stirred.
Something old.
Something buried.
The stranger laughed softly.
Then their gaze settled on Lena.
Directly on Lena.
And the smile beneath the hood widened.
"Oh."
The voice sounded delighted.
"She really is alive."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Then the stranger took off the hood.
And every person in the ruins reacted.
Except Lena.
Because she had never seen him before.
But everyone else had.
Caelum looked furious.
Seraphine looked sick.
Orion looked ready to attack.
Lyra looked genuinely frightened.
The man smiled.
Handsome.
Charming.
Perfectly ordinary.
Which somehow made him worse.
Then he bowed dramatically.
Like an actor taking a stage.
"Forgive me."
His eyes gleamed.
"I believe you're all discussing my murder."
And just like that, the entire mystery changed.