Chapter 153

Isla

Stoneheart Castle should be asleep.

It never truly sleeps, of course, not with initiates pacing the halls, not with the wind moaning across the turrets, not with the bones of ancient vampires humming in the foundations, but there is usually a rhythm to it. A pulse.

Tonight the castle feels… off-beat.

Like its heartbeat has been rewritten.

Maybe it has.

It's day time and I should be asleep, my bare feet silent on the cold stone. Aeron wanted me in our chambers, resting, but sleep refuses to come today. My body is exhausted, my mind frayed, but something inside me won’t let me sit still.

Something is pulling.

Not violently.

Not painfully.

Just… insistently.

The torches flicker when I pass. Small, subtle bends of flame. Like they turn to watch me.

Wonderful.

Another thing I need to add to the list of shit Isla now does without trying.

Aeron doesn't know, no one does, but I don't bleed during the day anymore. It stopped around the time the fae's realm collapsed.

I should tell someone, deep down in my soul I know I should confide in Aeron, but I feel like another confession would destroy him. He's had enough for a good, long while.

I descend the narrow spiral stairs into the lower keep. The deeper I go, the colder the air gets. Not winter-cold, but the kind of cold that settles in old stone and older memories, in place where the sun never reach. Places only a vampire could love.

The werewolf guards posted outside Valeria’s cell bow when they see me and they won't meet my eye. “Your Majesty," one says.

I still don’t know how to react to that title. It hits my body wrong. Like someone trying to push mismatched puzzle pieces together.

“I want to see her,” I say quietly.

He steps aside without any question and unlocks the door for me.

The dungeon is dim and heavy, the torches hissing against the damp. When I reach Valeria’s cell, she is already on her feet, chains rattling lightly as she lifts her head and gives me a slow, deliberate smile.

Her lips are split, her gown torn, her eyes furious and bright, but she grins like she just won a game.

“Little godess,” she purrs softly.

I don’t flinch.

I refuse to play with her. "Are they treating you well?" I ask. "Did they feed you?"

She doesn't have the bleeds. But down here, almost no one gets them. There's not enough sunlight.

I step closer and her smile widens. "Do you really care?"

"No. Not really."

"Why are you here, Isla?"

A challenge.

A greeting.

A threat.

All of it.

From the shadows behind me, Morvahn emerges. I don’t know how long he’s been standing there. Long enough, judging by the reverent glow in his dark eyes. He follows me around like a puppy. Aeron says it's not normal and that we need to do something about it, although my groom refuses to tell me what that 'something' might be.

“You shouldn’t be here alone,” Morvahn murmurs.

“I’m not alone,” I answer softly. "I'm surrounded by guards. You're here."

“You know what I mean.”

I do.

But I don’t want to admit it.

I turn back to Valeria. “Why did you turn on us?”

She tilts her head and smiles. I resist the urge to claw her eyes out.

"I liked you. I trusted you," I say.

"A hard-learned lesson then, little one," Valeria says. "Never trust anyone but your own blood." She glances at Morvahn. "Even then, treat that trust with... caution."

Valeria spits blood on the floor, then lifts her chin. "I am dying," she declares.

"Of what?" I ask. "You're fucking immortal. You can't get sick."

Her eyes flick to Morvahn. "That one there hates me. He thinks he's doing you a service."

Ah shit. Fuck. Maybe Aeron was right. Perhaps we do need to do something about Morvahn.

“You scare me you know,” Valeria says simply. “But you fascinate me too. I wish that I would have lived long enough to see what you'd become. I bet you're going to be something magnificent.”

That… is not the answer I expected.

She continues, eyes sharp. “You close wounds between realms. You command wolves. You glow in ways the fae never could. You will do great things.”

“If you feel that way, why did you try to kill me?”

“Not you. Just Aeron.”

I clench my fists at my sides. “Oh. Just Aeron. That makes it okay then.”

She laughs. "You would have recovered from the loss. Together we would have been the fiercest queens the world has ever known. We would have conquered worlds... like the fae."

She says it like it’s something I'd want. Like it was a prophecy she needed to fulfill.

I hate the idea of it.

“I would never have done that,” I say. “I don't want all that power. I don't see the point in it.”

Valeria gives a small, bitter laugh. “No. That's what makes you so fucking special. You are not seduced by money or power or fame... family and love are enough for you. I wish I were that simple. My life would be easier.” Her eyes bore into me. "You fascinate me.”

I blink. “Because I'm simple?”

“Simple is perhaps not the word... but yes, because you are content with what is.”

Her voice lowers. “I tasted your magic in the air when you closed those fissures. You are something so special Isla Stoneheart. And you don't even want it. The gods wasted all that power on you.” Her voice is bitter. "If they had given me that power, I would have given them greatness."

"And that is why the gods did not choose you," Morvahn says. "They know whatyou truly are.

I jerk at the sudden sound of his voice. I have all but forgotten that he is here.

"You should go," Valeria says. "Let me die in fucking peace."

A cold shiver runs down my spine. She really is dying. And that will make life infinitely more difficult for Aeron.

Morvahn steps closer, his voice low. “Then die, already. You have been alive too long.”

I turn sharply on him. “What have you done, Morvahn?”

His smile is gentle. Too gentle. "I have balanced the scales."

"Fucking unbalance them. She can't die. Aeron will be furious."

"Yes, Aeron will be," my groom says behind me.

I did not sense him coming. At all.

My insides go cold and my knees start to shake. I may be a goddess, or goddess-like, but Aeron still has the ability to surprise and scare me.

"You were not in our bed." His voice is icy. "Why do I find you wandering around in the dark with... Morvahn of all people?"