Chapter 28 All Lies
Rayne's POV
The door closed behind me. The corridor was empty except for two guards who straightened when they saw me.
I ignored them and kept walking, my mind already sorting through what needed to happen next.
The palace was out of order. Kaelen's people were still breathing. That was the first problem. The second problem was the girl.
I pushed it aside. I didn't know what she was or why she smelled like my blood or why she kept looking at me like I'd taken something from her. I didn't have the information to solve that yet so I left it.
"Where is my mother?"
The advisor trailing behind me stumbled slightly. "She — during the coup, Kaelen had her... "
"Where."
"The dungeon, my lord." I was already moving.
The guards at the dungeon entrance made the mistake of stepping into my path.
The first one didn't finish his sentence. The second one didn't start his. I stepped over both of them without breaking steps.
The reinforced door at the bottom I pulled off its hinges and set aside.
I moved through the cells without hurry, checking each one until the light caught her face.
My mother sat against the far wall. Wrists chained and her dress torn at the shoulder.
She looked up. For a moment she just stared at me like she was afraid that if she blinked I would disappear.
Then something broke open in her face that I had never seen before. Not in public....Not in private..... Not once in my entire life.
She made a sound I had no name for and lunged forward as far as the chains allowed, hands reaching, straining.
"Rayne" Her voice cracked completely on my name.
I crossed the cell in two steps and crouched in front of her. Her chained hands found my face immediately both palms pressing against my jaw, my cheeks, my forehead, fingers trembling as she checked every inch of me like she couldn't trust her own eyes.
"You were dead," she choked out, tears spilling freely down her face.
"I watched...... they told me.. " She pressed her forehead against mine, hands still shaking. "I watched them carry you out, Rayne. I 'watched'......"
"I'm here," I said.
It was all I had. She cried harder. I snapped the chains and she didn't even seem to notice.
She just held my face in her freed hands and looked at me, tears running, and for the first time in my life my mother looked like someone who was afraid of losing something she loved.
She pulled back eventually. Wiped her face with the back of her hand.
Straightened what remained of her composure the way she always did slowly, deliberately, like putting armor back on piece by piece.
She looked at me properly then.
"Rayne," she said quietly. Different this time. A question wrapped inside my name.
I nodded once and stood. "Can you walk?"
"Yes." She rose without help and studied me with the particular attention of someone reading between lines.
I was already at the next cell. Behind me, I heard her steps catch up.
“Rayne.” I didn’t stop.
"Where is she?” That made me pause. I turned slightly. “Who.”
My mother’s expression tightened. Not confusion. Something sharper.
“Brea.” The name meant nothing. I watched her for a second. “Who is Brea.”
The silence that followed was different from before. Heavier.
My mother stared at me like she was trying to decide if I was joking.
“You don’t—” She stopped herself. Drew in a slow breath..
“The girl,” she said instead.. “The human girl.”
A fragment of a memory and a shape without detail of a girl, flashed in my vision. My hand tightening around the cell bar..
I blinked once. “…the one from earlier,” I said. “Yes,” she said quietly. “That one.”
I turned away from her and started walking again.
“Then we’ll discuss it later,” I said. Her steps followed me immediately.
“Rayne—” There was something urgent in her voice now. “The last time I saw her..Kaelen wanted to rape her.”
That stopped me again, Slowly this time. I turned back.
“Too bad I killed him.”
My mother watched me for a long second. “…Seraphine is here,” she said quietly.
That made me pause. I turned toward the next cell. The woman inside was standing.
Wrists chained and blood dried along her arms. One eye swollen, but her posture was straight, unbroken.
She looked at me, then scoffed. “Took you long enough.”
Seraphine was Rayne's guardian since childhood, Seraphine bled, fought, earning trust beyond rank...one of the few allowed to speak freely without punishment or distance to him.
I stepped closer. Broke the chains without a word.She rolled her wrists once, then looked me dead in the eyes.
“You’re not surprised,” I said. She glanced past me briefly toward where my mother stood.
“I heard, the Queen” she said simply. “Hard not to, with her shouting your name" then she paused,
Her eyes returned to mine. “Though,” she added, “you don’t look fully back.” I said nothing.
Her gaze sharpened. “Don’t start acting like you don’t know what’s going on,” she said.
“Brea is your wife.”
“No,” I said flatly. “She’s not.” The air went still.
My mother exhaled slowly, like she was holding something back.
“Alright… if you say so. I’ll show you.” She leaned in, whispering into my ear and vanished.
It wasn’t normal speed. It was too fast. Even for her.
My head snapped toward where she had been. “What are you—” She was already gone before I could finish.
I didn’t hesitate. I turned to my mother. “I’ll be back.” Then I vanished too.
By the time I reached the upper hall, She already had her. Brea was pinned against the wall.
Seraphine’s hand locked around her throat, lifting her clean off the ground. Her fangs hovered just above Brea’s skin, close enough to break it with a breath.
Brea’s fingers clutched weakly at her wrist, her body trembling, barely holding on. Her eyes found mine. I stopped.
“Seraphine.” She didn’t look at me.
“I guess you don’t love her,” she said calmly. Brea made a small choking sound. Seraphine’s grip tightened slightly
“Which means she’s useless.”
“Let me kill her for you.” I didn’t move, I just watched as her hand shifted.
I moved faster. My hand slammed into her before the motion completed, the impact cracking against the wall as she was thrown back just enough to break her hold.
Not enough to injure. Enough to stop her Brea dropped as Her body collapsed into my arms instantly, like something inside her had given out. Light. Shaking. Breath uneven against my chest.
Her fingers clutched weakly at my shirt.
I looked down at her. Behind me, Seraphine straightened slowly.
There was blood at the corner of her mouth.
She smiled. “…There it is,” she said quietly.