Chapter 123: The Veiled Queen has Awaken
The words settled into the air like ash.
The Veiled Queen has awakened.
A hush spread over the gathered council in the East Tower, cold and absolute. Even the flames in the braziers seemed to lean away from the revelation, flickering nervously as if they too feared to hear her name.
Lucia stepped forward, cloak dragging like a shadow behind her. “You’re lying. The Veiled Queen was bound centuries ago by the First Accord. The Veyra and Sombrosi sacrificed half their kin to keep her sealed.”
The Blood Seer didn’t flinch. “And yet she stirs.”
Isla’s skin prickled. A deep ache nestled beneath her ribs, sharp, coiled, and watching. Her child shifted within her, as if in recognition of a name not spoken in generations.
“She’s not just stirring,” Isla said slowly. “She’s been whispering.”
Damian turned sharply toward her, eyes dark. “What?”
“She doesn't speak in words,” Isla murmured. “She bleeds into my dreams. I thought it was Maedor. But this... it’s colder. A presence behind the veil, older than even the Sombrosi.”
Lucia’s expression grew grim. “The Veiled Queen was the source. Maedor was her disciple, her anchor. If she’s truly rising, it means the veil has thinned beyond what we thought.”
The Blood Seer, still cloaked in silence, finally stepped forward. “She is coming because the triad soul has formed. Your child. Born of Veyra body, Sombrosi essence… and the Umbravox tongue. Three lines converging.”
A cold sweat broke along Isla’s back.
“What does she want?” Damian demanded.
The Seer tilted her head. “To inhabit the child. To become reborn through the womb of prophecy.”
“No,” Isla said instantly, stepping back as though to shield her belly. “She will not have my child.”
The Seer’s eyes flicked to her, softer now. “You must understand, Queen of Fire and Ash, this was always the risk. When the veil first opened, the Blood Pact predicted a convergence. We thought it would come from the Veyra. We never imagined it would come from a union between the lines long thought shattered.”
Damian’s hand curled into a fist. “Then we end her before she crosses the veil.”
The Blood Seer smiled, and it wasn’t cruel, it was tired. “You can’t. She has no body. Only a memory strong enough to fracture reality.”
A silence fell. Brienne, pale but awake now, leaned against the doorway. “Then we give her one.”
All eyes turned to her.
She stepped in fully, her voice hoarse but laced with defiance. “We let her try to take the child, but we bind her to something else. Give her an anchor that isn’t the triad soul.”
Lucia shook her head. “That’s too dangerous.”
Brienne shrugged. “So is doing nothing.”
Damian growled low in his throat. “I won’t risk my mate or my child in a game of bait.”
“I’m not saying it has to be Isla.” Brienne’s voice faltered. “What if it’s me?”
“No.” Isla stood firm, stepping toward her. “You’ve given enough. We find another way.”
But even as she said it, the air around her shifted. The child stirred again.
The Veiled Queen had already begun reaching.
“I need to see Raven,” Isla said. “Now.”
Lucia hesitated. “She’s gone beyond the Wraithwood in search of Silas. Said she needed to consult him about the old tongues. He has been long gone trying to puzzle together that which is long forgotten.”
“Then summon her. Send word her way. Do whatever it takes. It’s imperative to reach them both in time.” Isla’s heart thundered. “She told me the Sombrosi feared me because I carried what they buried. That fear was the key. We need to know exactly why.”
The Seer moved forward again. “I can take you to someone else. A voice older than Silas. The Last Binder of the Umbravox. She sleeps in the Ruins of Y’Sil. But she will only speak to blood.”
Damian’s hand wrapped around Isla’s wrist. “You’re not going alone.”
Brienne stepped forward. “Then we all go.”
Lucia nodded. “I’ll hold the keep. But you need to move fast. If the Queen breaches fully… we may not be able to close the veil again.”
Isla met Damian’s gaze. The fury there had softened into resolve. He had come so far from the first time she set eyes on him. Their bond has become impenetrable.
“Then we ride at dawn,” he said. “And we finish this before the veil bleeds into the world.”
As they moved to prepare, Isla felt it again, that whisper beneath her ribs. The sound of silk torn in a storm. It was like the hush of the wind, mighty but at the same time soothing. A lullaby in a language she shouldn’t know.
But the child did and the Queen listened because she felt that baby growing inside of her mothers womb.