Chapter 139 A King’s Curse
The moon hung heavily in the sky, and a pale lamp made shadows that danced like whispers. As Sienna walked down the long hall of the Citadel's lower dungeons, the cold stone walls of the prison pressed in on her. Every stride she took resonated in the quiet, reminding her of how important her job was tonight. She wasn't here to decide anything; the decision had already been made. She was come to see the guy who had once been her greatest love. Now, he was broken and cursed, and she was afraid it would break him apart. Sienna stopped in front of the door with iron bars and ran her fingers over the cool metal. She could feel him on the other side, and it felt like an invisible force was pushing against her.
He had always had too much power, but now... now it was something else entirely. Darker, stronger, and less stable. She took a deep breath to push aside the flood of anxiety that was about to take her over. She had told Ryder that she would set him free and break the enchantment that held him. But every time she thought about it, every time she had to deal with the truth of it, a knot formed in her stomach. "Sienna," a low, gravelly voice said from the shadows. It made her shiver. Ryder's voice.
"Come closer," he hissed, his words barely audible in the thick air. She didn't answer immediately away; instead, she gently stepped forward. She could see him when her eyes got used to the dim light. His once majestic shape was now just a shadow of itself, and his body was shackled to the stone wall. His eyes, which had always drew her in with their fiery intensity, were now empty. The curse had changed him into a shell of the man he used to be. "Sienna," Ryder said again, this time with a hint of desperation in his voice. "You shouldn't have come." "It's too risky." But there was no way to go back now. She had gone too far to turn back. She needed to know the truth and understand everything that was happening to him. "You're wrong," she remarked in a calm voice.
"I came to help you." The sound of Ryder's harsh laugh bounced off the stone walls. "Help me? You believe you can? You don't know how bad the curse is. Sienna, it's not just my body. It's my soul. And I don't know if you can solve that. She could tell that what he said was true. She understood that the curse was driving him farther into the darkness and that he was already starting to lose himself. But she couldn't believe that there was no chance for him. There has to be a way. "I will find a way," she stated firmly.
"I won't give up on you." Not now, not ever. His eyes flashed with a glimmer of something, maybe hope? Do you regret it? She wasn't sure. But then he looked away and shook his head gently, as if he were trying to get rid of the thought of her. "Then you'll have to deal with what's next," he replied in a hushed voice. "And believe me, Sienna, you won't like it." You won't be able to pay for it. The words hung in the air like a thick fog, making her feel like she was about to die. What was he attempting to say to her? What did it cost to break the curse?
"Tell me what I need to do," she said, moving closer to the bars that separated them. She could feel the heat coming off of him, which was very different from the coolness around her. "Please, Ryder." I need to know. He thought about it for a long time, and for a brief while, his eyelids closed, as if he were fighting something inside himself. When he opened his eyes again, the fire in them was gone, and they were colder and more distant. "You'll have to break more than just the curse, Sienna." It's me. The guy I used to be is gone. And in his place is something much worse, something you might not be able to preserve. Sienna's heart hurt. The words hurt, but she couldn't allow them take over her life. She had to keep on going. For him. For her own good. For everything they had shared in the past. "You're still in there," she murmured, her voice steady.
"I know you are." And I shall look for you. "I won't give up on you." Ryder's eyes got softer, but only for a second. He closed them again and let out a slow, painful breath. "You should. You should stop trying to help me. Because the cost of saving me is too high. "What is it?" she yelled, her voice getting louder with anger. "How much, Ryder?" But he didn't say anything. Instead, he stared down at the ground, as if he didn't want to look at her. The quiet between them seemed to last forever, and the tension was so heavy that it felt like it could strangle. "Sienna," he finally muttered, barely audible. "You believe you can help me?" But you won't be able to. Not until you're ready to give up everything. Your crown. Your land. Your very soul. Her heart raced and her head spun as the weight of what he said sank in.
She had come to shatter the curse and set him free. But now Ryder was telling her that to do that, she would have to give up everything she had worked for. All that she had become. The thought of that made her feel sick to her stomach. How could she pick between protecting him and maintaining the authority she had battled so hard to get? How could she make such a hard choice? "I won't give up on you," she murmured again, her voice breaking this time. "I can't." Ryder's eyes met hers, and for a minute, she saw the guy he used to be, the man she loved, the one who had held her in his arms. But then, as if he were struggling against himself, the fire in his eyes dulled again.
"You will," he replied quietly. "You will stop caring about me. And when you do, you'll know what the curse really is. Sienna's heart skipped a beat. What did he mean? What did he mean by that? "I'll find a way," she answered, her voice shaking with panic. "I won't stop trying." But Ryder's face was already hardening, and his body was moving back into the darkness of his cell. She couldn't shake the weight of his words, though. "You will, Sienna," he muttered again, his voice barely audible. "You will." As Sienna turned to exit the dungeon, the heaviness of his words sank deeper into her heart. Could she actually get rid of the curse? Could she help him, or would she lose herself in the process?