Chapter 200 - Vaeloria In Liora's Ruined Castle

Chapter 200 - Vaeloria In Liora's Ruined Castle
KIERAN 
The journey to Vaeloria took two days, though it felt longer. The air grew heavier the deeper we rode into the land of mist and ruin. Ivan rode ahead, his cloak dark against the pale fog. Behind him, I held the reins of a second horse, Adeline asleep before me, her head resting lightly against my chest.
She hadn’t woken once. Each time she stirred, Ivan had whispered under his breath, sealing her back into slumber with a soft shimmer of power. I had said nothing, though unease flickered behind my eyes.
By the time we crossed into Vaeloria’s borders, the world had changed entirely. The air was damp and thick with the scent of ash. Clouds hung low.
Everywhere we looked stood hollow shells of homes, collapsed roofs, broken windows, and walls covered in vines blackened by rot. Fog slithered between the ruins like restless ghosts.
“This place,” I murmured, pulling my horse to a stop, “feels cursed.”
Ivan didn’t turn around. “It’s not cursed,” he said. “It’s forgotten.”
A long, low groan echoed in the distance, a beast’s cry carried through the mist. The horses shifted nervously, hooves scraping the stone path. My hand instinctively went to my side. I drew the Helix sword from its sheath, and its faint glow cut through the fog like a whisper of moonlight.
Ivan’s eyes followed the weapon. A half-smile touched his face. “That sword…” he said, “The Queen of Darkness’s blade.”
I looked up sharply. “Queen of what?”
“The Queen of Darkness,” Ivan repeated. “You mean to tell me you don’t know who that belonged to?”
I frowned. “I only don't know who the Queen of darkness was.”
Ivan gave a quiet laugh that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Who else could it be but the woman you married?”
My brows drew together. “You mean Liora.”
Ivan nodded once. “A lot you don’t know about her.”
I grip tight on the hilt. “Then tell me.”
Ivan urged his horse forward, his voice distant as if speaking to the fog itself. “Liora wasn’t just a witch. She was the most powerful witch, the Helix witch. The one who commanded Vaeloria’s covens, who united the forsaken clans and made this land breathe again. The witches here worshipped her as their queen, until she turned her power against Lunvaris and began the war. They followed her willingly into darkness.”
We rode on in silence after that. The weight of his words lingered heavily between us.
By dusk, they reached a rise that overlooked a vast ruin, what once must have been magnificent. Stone spires pierced the fog like broken teeth. The gates hung ajar, their metal twisted and rusted by time. This was Liora’s castle.
We dismounted. Ivan hoisted Adeline carefully onto his back. My eyes swept the place, a faint ache stirring in my chest, something hauntingly familiar.
“So this was her home,” I murmured.
Ivan nodded, stepping through the broken archway. “She built this place. Every tower, every stone bore her mark. When she died at the war, the land fell silent. Even the spirits refused to linger.”
That day still felt like it was yesterday. 
My boots echoed softly as we entered the main hall, a vast chamber where the ceiling had caved in. Moonlight spilled through the cracks, silvering the dust in the air. The faint scent of burned incense clung to the walls.
“How do you know all this?” I asked, my voice low.
Ivan adjusted Adeline’s weight on his back. “Because I was born here,” he said simply. “Vaeloria is my home. Nothing happens here that I don’t know.”
I turned to look at him fully, but Ivan didn’t meet my eyes. Instead, he crouched and laid Adeline gently on the cold stone floor. Her hair fanned across the ground like spilled ink.
He muttered a short incantation under his breath, his palm hovering above her forehead. A soft light pulsed once, then faded.
Adeline’s fingers twitched. Her breathing quickened. Then, slowly, her eyes fluttered open.
“Addy.”
“Ivan?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Ivan smiled faintly. “It’s me.”
She pushed herself up weakly, confusion flashing across her face before recognition softened her features. Then she threw her arms around him, burying her face against his shoulder.
“I thought I lost you,” she breathed.
Ivan held her tightly for a moment, closing his eyes. “You didn’t,” he said quietly.
Behind them, I stood in the doorway, the Helix sword lowered at my side, my gaze lingering on the siblings, on Adeline, who looked more alive now than I had ever seen her.
“Where's mother?” She asked. Ivan hesitated, then Adeline’s smile faded the moment she noticed Ivan’s silence. He wouldn’t meet her eyes, just stared at the floor, his hands tightening and loosening restlessly at his sides.
Her lips parted, but no sound came. She didn’t need him to say it; the truth was already there in his silence.
“She’s… gone, isn’t she?” her voice broke, soft as a whisper.
Ivan’s shoulders tensed. He exhaled slowly, the faintest tremor in his breath. “Adeline…” he began, but the rest of the words wouldn’t come.
Adeline took moved back, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes filled. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, no… she can’t be gone. It's all my fault… if I'd…”
“Stop.” Ivan’s voice was firm but heavy. He moved closer, his hand finding her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. None of this is. She made her choice.”
Adeline looked away, her tears falling freely now. The hall around them seemed to echo with their mother’s absence, every corner shadowed with what had been lost.
After a long moment, she wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked at him again. “Then why… what are we doing here?”
Her voice trembled, the question hanging in the still air of the ruined castle.