Chapter 499 The Binding

Chapter 499 The Binding
(Arkael Ashborne) 

A moment passed before Arkael heard movement within. The latch clicked. The door opened only a little at first before widening completely. She looked tired. Not physically. Emotionally. There were faint shadows beneath her eyes that had not been there the previous morning, and although she offered him a polite smile, it never quite reached them. 
Understandable. Yesterday had changed everything she thought she knew about Hell. 
"Good morning," he said warmly. 
"Good morning." 
"I hope the palace allowed you some rest." 
She smiled apologetically. "I think my mind was a little too busy for sleeping." 
He chuckled softly. 
"I remember feeling much the same after my first meeting with the High Council." 
That earned the smallest laugh from her. Good. Not because he wished to charm her. Because she needed to understand that she belonged here. 
"I wondered," he continued, "if you would allow me to show you something this morning." 
Her curiosity surfaced almost immediately. "What is it?" 
"The throne." 
She blinked. "The throne?" 
Arkael nodded. 
"You have seen our home." His expression softened. "You have met our people." 
"And now..." He stepped aside, extending one hand down the corridor in quiet invitation. "I believe it is time you met your kingdom." 
Adelaide accepted the invitation with only the briefest hesitation before stepping into the corridor beside him. 
She wore a simpler gown than the evening before, though only by comparison. Soft ivory fabric flowed to her ankles, embroidered at the cuffs with delicate crimson flames that seemed to flicker whenever she moved. Her hair remained loosely gathered behind her head, several stubborn curls already escaping to frame her face despite whatever battle they had clearly fought with them that morning. 
She still reached automatically to straighten the circlet resting across her brow. Arkael pretended not to notice. In time, she would stop checking whether it belonged there. 
They walked without hurry through corridors already alive with the rhythm of another day. Servants paused only long enough to bow before continuing their work. Stonemasons carried freshly carved blocks towards another wing still awaiting restoration. Somewhere nearby, a choir of young voices stumbled collectively through a lesson before erupting into laughter when one child forgot the words entirely. 
Adelaide smiled towards the sound. 
"What are they learning?" 
"Our history." 
She glanced back at him. "So young?" 
"The youngest." 
"They'll understand it?" 
"They won't remember every name." He smiled. "But they'll remember who they belong to." 
The answer seemed to settle somewhere quietly inside her. Good. She needed to understand that walls did not sustain kingdoms. They were sustained by memory. 
The palace gradually grew quieter the further they climbed. The broad hallways gave way to older stone. Here, restoration had only recently begun. Scaffolding still hugged portions of the walls where shattered reliefs waited patiently to be rebuilt. Empty niches marked the places where statues had once stood, while strips of fresh mortar traced pale lines through ancient stone like healed scars. 
Eventually they reached a pair of doors unlike any Adelaide had yet seen. They towered nearly twice the height of the others. Solid pale white stone. Polished to the point of reflecting everything before it. No decoration. No jewels. No gilding. Only a single symbol carved deeply into both doors. 
Three flames. 
One white. One red. One gold. Intertwined so completely that it became impossible to tell where one ended and another began. 
Adelaide slowed. "I've seen that before." 
"The prophecy," Arkael noted as he inclined his head. 
"The Sovereign Flame." She whispered as her fingers drifted unconsciously towards the carving without quite touching it. "It looks different here." 
"It should." 
She looked at him. 
"Every copy drawn afterwards became less accurate." His hand rested lightly upon the cold stone. "This was carved before anyone had reason to forget." 
For just a heartbeat he allowed himself to study the ancient symbol. Three flames. How strange. The priests had spent a thousand years trying to erase one. Apollo had spent a thousand years believing another belonged solely to him. And yet... The prophecy had never changed. Only the people reading it had. 
Adelaide remained studying the intertwined flames for several thoughtful moments before looking back towards him. 
"Everyone keeps mentioning the prophecy." 
There was no accusation in her voice, but Arkael could feel her curiosity in the words. 
"The priests spoke about it." She counted softly upon her fingers. “Apollo mentioned it. Cael mentioned it. And now you." 
Her eyes returned briefly to the ancient carving before settling once more upon Arkael. 
"But no one has actually told me what it says." 
She smiled faintly. "...Will you?" 
Arkael regarded her for a long moment. She deserved an answer. Or at least... Enough of one. 
"When our Queen fell," he began quietly, "our people believed we had lost everything." 
His gaze drifted to the three flames carved into the ancient stone. 
"Our kingdom. Our homes. Our Sovereign. Our future. The survivors gathered what little remained and fled beneath the mountains, carrying nothing with them except memories... and hope." 
He rested one hand gently against the carved symbol. 
"It was there, during those first years of exile, that the prophecy was first spoken." 
Adelaide listened without interruption. 
"It foretold that the Queen would one day return." 
Her brow lifted slightly. 
"Not Aurelia herself." He shook his head. "Her blood. The spirit of her sacrifice. The flame she left behind." 
His eyes met hers. 
"It spoke of a Sovereign born far from these halls, carrying the Queen's blood through generations until the time came for her to restore the Emberborn to their rightful place within the realm." 
Silence settled gently between them. 
Adelaide looked back towards the three flames. "...You believe that's me." 
"I do." 
She laughed softly, though there was little humour in it. 
"That's... quite a lot to place on someone's shoulders." 
"It is." He answered without hesitation. "It is more than anyone should carry alone." 
He allowed the smallest smile. 
"Which is precisely why the Binding exists."