Chapter 77 A beautiful sacrifice
Lila was brought out of the carriage prison and carried straight to her initial chamber. The palace halls felt different now, heavier somehow, as if the very stones remembered her and mourned what she'd become.
As she walked with guards flanking her on either side, she saw Maya standing near a corner looking terrified, her usual composure completely shattered.
Their eyes almost met but Maya quickly bowed her head and hurried past without acknowledgment, her footsteps echoing in the silence. She didn't even glance in Lila's direction, just kept her gaze fixed firmly on the floor as she disappeared around a corner.
Lila understood completely. Maya was scared to look at her, probably imagining what denials she'd had to make to look innocent after helping with the escape. What lies she'd told to save her own skin when they discovered the prisoner had fled. Lila didn't blame her for the fear or the distance, didn't expect loyalty from someone whose life depended on self-preservation.
Keal himself led her to her chambers, the room that had become her prison for three years of suffering. They stopped at the door and he gently removed the shackles they'd chained her with, as though she still possessed the strength or will to run anywhere.
"Clean her and make her worthy before the councils." His usual stern voice spoke yet somehow it sounded smoother than expected, almost careful, as though it wasn't coming from a man as rigid and unbending as Keal was known to be.
He spared her no glance after that and walked away, his boots clicking against stone floors until the sound faded to nothing.
Lila was dressed by another maid she didn't recognize. The woman looked way older than Maya, her face lined with years of service, and she showed absolutely no interest in conversation or explanation. She simply went about her work with mechanical efficiency.
Two maids attended to her like royalty preparing for coronation rather than execution. They stripped her of the dirty blood-stained clothes she'd worn through her journey and gave her a bath in water scented with oils and flower petals.
The warmth seeped into her aching muscles and bones, relaxing tension she didn't know she'd been carrying.
Then a meal was set beside her seat, elaborate and carefully prepared. Multiple courses arranged on fine china with silver utensils polished to mirror brightness.
Lila chuckled at their gesture, the sound coming out bitter and hollow. "Do you feed me so well before my death? Even all my time in this prison I was never fed with such royalty."
As usual the maids said nothing in response but they didn't move away either. They stood waiting, watching, as though this elaborate preparation was part of some ritual they'd been instructed to perform exactly.
Lila ate quietly, tasting nothing despite the quality of the food. Her mind was elsewhere, cycling through everything that had led to this moment.
She was dressed afterward in a stunning beautiful blue princess gown that must have cost more than most families earned in a year. The fabric was soft as clouds against her skin, embroidered with silver thread that caught the light with every movement.
Her red hair was creamed and styled in waves that cascaded over her shoulders, framing her face in a way that emphasized her features. Makeup was applied with expert hands, subtle but transformative.
When they finally let her see her reflection, Lila barely recognized herself. She looked stunning in a way she'd never achieved before, beautiful enough to make her breath catch. She'd never imagined she could look like this, had always believed Celeste held all the beauty in their family.
A portrait was made of her then, an artist working quickly to capture her image on canvas before covering it with cloth. Then she was finally brought before the councils, walking through corridors that felt like they stretched forever.
As she entered the council chamber, a piercing pain hit her chest and stole her breath. She immediately understood whose emotions were flooding through the bond. Adrian. He was suffering and he'd left himself open to her, vulnerable in a way he hadn't been since she'd fled.
The silence that fell when Lila walked in showed everyone was stunned by her appearance. She was beyond beautiful, transformed from prisoner to goddess by preparation meant to serve purposes she didn't yet understand.
Adrian closed his eyes as if the sight of her caused physical pain. His nose flared as he caught her scent, rich and intoxicating in ways it had never been before. The oils and flowers from her bath mixed with her natural scent to create something almost unbearable in its appeal.
What sort of ritual was this? He'd been told the mate must be made as beautiful as anything, that this was necessary to seduce the spirit of death that hung in the air around the Northern Kingdom. But what if this beauty seduced him instead? What if he couldn't maintain control long enough to complete the rejection?
Adrian clenched his fists so hard his claws pierced his palms, trying desperately to keep himself calm and focused.
Suddenly the voice of Freya the diviner brought him crashing back to the present calamity at hand.
"My king, you must stand against the moon at the crest center to make this sacrifice." Her voice carried authority that silenced all murmuring. "The ritual can only be performed there, where the moon's power is strongest."
The crest center. Adrian's stomach turned at the mention of that cursed place. It was the sacred heart of the palace, the point where moonlight fell strongest and clearest. But for Adrian it held only terrible memories.
That was the very spot where he'd watched his mother die. They said it was a point that connected the moon directly to the people of the Northern Kingdom, that the Goddess's light shone brightest there. But that place had never brought him blessings, only devastating loss.
First his mother had fallen there during a tragic war when rogues had breached the palace walls. She'd died at that exact spot with her heart ripped from her chest while eight-year-old Adrian watched helplessly from the shadows.
And now his mate would die there too. Not literally perhaps, but the bond's death felt equivalent. Life would lose all meaning without her presence in his heart and soul.
"When do we proceed?" Adrian's voice came out flat and emotionless, the tone of a man already dead inside.
"Right now, immediately." Freya moved forward, her ancient eyes gleaming. "You must walk beside her as though you are being marched for a wedding. The spirits must believe this is a union before the rejection can take hold."