Chapter 12 MOTHER'S DAUGHTER
The messenger arrived at dawn.
I woke to the sound of shouting, urgent and sharp, like the world was already falling apart before my eyes were even fully open. To Kaelix bolting upright beside me, shadows already gathering at his fingertips. To the door bursting open and Lysander stumbling in, his face the color of old parchment.
"My lord... My lady." He was out of breath. When had I ever seen Lysander run? "Light Court messenger, demands audience."
My stomach dropped. "Seraphine."
"Yes."
My heart... slammed once, then fell, like it knew what was coming.
Kaelix was already moving, throwing on clothes with shaking hands. The curse made everything harder now, simple movements required visible effort. But he didn't slow down.
Neither did I.
We reached the throne room to find it packed. Morwenna and Elysande on their thrones, my mother standing between them looking small and fragile and afraid. Wild Court warriors lined the walls.
And in the center, a Light Court soldier in golden armor, holding a scroll sealed in blood.
For a second, I couldn't feel my own heartbeat.
Blood seals meant serious business. Meant binding magic. Meant someone was about to get hurt.
"Read it," Morwenna commanded.
The soldier unrolled the scroll. His voice rang clear. Clinical. Like he was reciting a recipe instead of a death sentence.
"Princess Aria will be executed publicly in two days. Come claim her body. Or come watch her die. Your choice." He paused. Then continued, softer. "Signed, Lady Seraphine."
The words didn't make sense.
Princess Aria. That was my mother. My mother who stood right there, alive and breathing and...
Something fell from the scroll.
A finger.
Delicate. Female. With a silver ring.
I'd seen that ring. In my memories. In dreams. My mother wore that ring. My father gave it to her on their wedding day.
She still wore it.
Past tense. Because that was her finger on the floor. Severed. Sent as a message.
My mother made a sound.
Not a scream, something worse.
A raw, cracked noise that didn’t sound human, the kind of sound pain makes when it’s been caged for seventeen years.
And suddenly, the air felt wrong.
Like the walls were too close.
Like the ground forgot how to hold me.
No. No no no no...
"Elara." Kaelix's hand on my shoulder. Grounding. "Breathe."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Could only stare at that finger. At the proof that my mother... my real mother, the one I'd just saved... was still in Seraphine's custody.
"Wait." The word came out strangled. I pointed at my mother. At Aria. "But she's right there. We saved her. She's..."
"That's me," my mother whispered. Horror in her voice. "That's my ring. My finger."
Understanding crashed through me like ice water.
We'd saved someone. But not my mother.
A glamour. A decoy. A trap.
"No." I heard myself saying it. Over and over. "No. No. We saved her. She's alive. She's right here..."
"I'm sorry," the woman wearing my mother's face said. Tears streaming. "I'm so sorry. She made me. She said she'd kill my family if I didn't..."
The glamour shattered. The woman underneath was younger. Terrified. Not my mother at all.
I'd spent a week with this stranger. Talking. Learning. Bonding. Thinking I'd finally gotten my mother back.
And it was all a lie.
Everything was a lie.
Magic burst through my skin like light through cracks, uncontainable and screaming.
This time it wasn’t vines. It was pure, uncontrollable rage.
The ground cracked beneath me. Black roses erupted, thorns sharp as daggers tearing through stone. The ancient trees outside bent toward the palace, heart pounding, hands unsteady, in response to my fury.
“Elara!” Kaelix grabbed me, his voice urgent. “You have to stop! You’ll bring the whole palace down!”
“I don’t care!” I yelled, shaking with anger and pain.
“The bond!” His embrace tightened, as if I was the only thing keeping him anchored. “Your magic flows through the bond... you’re killing me!”
His words struck me with the force of a storm.
I stared at him, panic clawing at my chest. Dark veins snaked over his skin, spreading like wildfire. He struggled to breathe, each gasp a stab of pain; my grief wasn’t just mine anymore; it was tearing him apart from the inside out.
I forced the magic down, burying it deep inside. Locked it away with every feeling I couldn’t afford to carry.
The roses drooped, their life draining away. The trees fell silent, holding their breath.
The earth beneath us quieted, no longer tearing itself apart.
Kaelix collapsed into my arms.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, voice cracking. “I never meant...”
“I know,” he gravelled, struggling to breathe.
“But you have to control it. Your magic is tied to your emotions. If you lose control every time something terrible happens...”
He didn’t finish, didn’t have to.
Great. One more thing to feel guilty about.
"The messenger has departed," Elysande said quietly. "He leaves us two days."
"Two days for what?" The decoy, the woman who'd pretended to be my mother; asked.
"What will you do?"
"Nothing," Morwenna said flatly. "It's obviously a trap."
"My mother is in there!" The words tore from my throat. "She's being tortured! We have to..."
"Do what? Walk into Seraphine's fortress? Get killed? That's what she wants!"
"I don't care what she wants! I care about saving my mother!"
"Your mother has survived seventeen years. She can survive a few more days while we plan..."
"A few more days?" I stared at her. At this ancient queen who claimed to love her daughter. "They sent us her FINGER. What do you think they'll send next? Her hand? Her head?"
"Probably," Morwenna said. Brutal honesty. "That's how Seraphine works. Escalation. Torture. Breaking her enemies psychologically before killing them physically."
"Then we don't let her win! We go get my mother NOW!"
"And die trying? Is that your plan?"
"Better than doing nothing!"
We were shouting now. In front of everyone. I didn't care.
My mother... my real mother, was being hurt. Right now. While we stood here arguing about strategy and traps and impossible odds.
"Elara." Kaelix's voice. Quiet. Steady. "Look at me."
I did. Reluctantly.
"Your grandmother is right. It's a trap."
The moment hit me like a bruise to my very soul; slow, painfu, and deep. "You're taking her side?"
"I'm taking reality's side. Walking into the Light Court with no plan is suicide."
"Then we make a plan! We..."
"We can't!" He cupped my face, forcing me to really see him. To see the black veins covering his skin. To see how close to death he was. "Look at me. Really look. I can barely stand. You're dying too. The curse is in your blood now. We have days left. Maybe a week if we're lucky. We're in no condition to storm a fortress."
"So we just let her die?"
"We think. We plan. We use our brains instead of our grief." He reached up, gentle as breath, and wiped the tears I hadn’t even noticed slipping down my face. "Your mother survived seventeen years. She's strong. Stronger than you know. She can survive two more days while we figure out how to actually save her."
I wanted to scream, to say something, anything, to do something other than stand here feeling helpless. but the words caught in my throat, burning with everything I couldn’t say.
But he was right. They were all right.
Going now, like this, would just get us killed.
And my mother's sacrifice; seventeen years of imprisonment, would be for nothing.
"I hate this," I whispered.
"I know."
"I hate feeling powerless."
"I know."
"I hate that you're right."
"I know." He pulled me close. "But we'll figure it out. Together. We'll save her. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Then I'll die trying to keep it. How's that?"
Despite everything, I almost smiled. "Still terrible. But honest."
"Best I can do."
The war council assembled within the hour.
Maps spread across the table. The Light Court palace rendered in ink and parchment.
Impossible walls. Triple wards. Hundreds of guards.
"We need a stealth approach," Lysander said.
"Small team. In and out before they know we're there."
"She'll be expecting that," Ravyn countered. "Will have doubled security. Tripled it."
"Then we create a distraction. Draw forces away."
"With what army? We're outnumbered five to one!"
"Then we use magic. Glamour. Illusions."
"Won't work. Seraphine can see through glamour. She'll know it's fake."
Around and around. Every plan shot down. Every strategy countered. Nothing worked.
Because Seraphine had won. She had my mother. Had the advantage. Had everything.
We had desperation and dying bodies and impossible odds.
"There has to be a way," I said. Not a question. A demand. "There's always a way."
"Sometimes there isn't," Morwenna said gently. Too gently. "Sometimes the odds are simply insurmountable."
"No." I stood. "No. I refuse to accept that. You want me to be like my mother? To have her strength? Then give me what she'd want... a chance to save her. Even a slim one."
"Elara..."
"Please." The word broke. "Please. She's my mother. The only parent I have left. I can't... I can't just leave her there. I can't."
No one spoke, even the shadows hold their breath.
Then Kaelix spoke. "What if Elara's right? What if we're thinking too big? Too complicated?"
"What do you mean?" Lysander asked.
"Seraphine expects an army. Expects strategy. Expects us to be smart." He looked at me.
Whatever he was feeling bled into his eyes before he looked away. "What if we're not? What if we just... walk in the front door?"
Everyone stared.
"That's insane," Ravyn said.
"Completely," Kaelix agreed. "Which is why it might work. Seraphine is paranoid. Sees threats everywhere. She won't expect something simple. Straightforward. Honest."
"You want to request a formal audience?"
Elysande sounded incredulous. "Just ask nicely to see the prisoner?"
"Why not? We're allied courts now. Technically. Wild Court princess requesting to see a prisoner. Diplomatic visit. Bring a small entourage. Nothing threatening."
"She'll say no."
"Maybe. Or maybe her ego won't let her refuse. Maybe she wants to gloat. To show us she's won." Kaelix's smile was sharp. "We give her that chance. Walk in. See Aria. Then we improvise."
"Improvise how?"
"That's the beauty of it. We don't know. Can't plan beyond the initial contact. So Seraphine can't predict it either."
It was insane. Reckless. Stupid.
It might actually work.
"I'll do it," I said immediately.
"We'll do it," Kaelix corrected. "The bond won't let you go alone."
"Then we both go." I looked at Morwenna. "Will you send the request? Formal diplomatic channels? Wild Court Princess Elara requesting audience?"
She studied me for a long moment. Then nodded slowly. "I'll send it. But Elara... this is suicide."
"Maybe. But it's my suicide. My choice. My mother." I met her eyes. "I have to try. Even if it kills me. I have to try."
"Just like Aria," Morwenna whispered.
"Stubborn. Foolish. Brave."
"Is that a yes?"
"It's a 'I'll support you even though this will probably get you killed.' Close enough?"
"Close enough."
The response came within hours.
Seraphine accepted.
Of course she did. She couldn't resist the chance to gloat. To show off her prize. To prove she'd won.
We had two days to prepare.
Two days to learn everything we could about the Light Court palace. To plan escape routes. To say goodbye to people just in case.
Two days before I walked into enemy territory and probably died trying to save my mother.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, running through scenarios. All of them ended badly.
"You're thinking too loud," Kaelix murmured beside me.
"Can't help it."
"Try."
"What if this doesn't work? What if we die for nothing?"
"Then at least we tried. That's all anyone can ask."
"That's not comforting."
"I know. But it's true." He rolled to face me. His eyes were silver in the darkness. "Whatever happens, we do it together. That's what matters."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it keeps being true."
I touched his face. Traced the black veins. They'd spread so much. Covered almost everything now.
"How long?" I whispered. "Really?"
"Days. A week if I'm lucky. Less if I'm not."
"And me?"
"Same. The bond is sharing everything now. Including the dying."
"Romantic."
"We're matching. That's something."
Despite everything, I laughed. Broken. Bitter. But real.
"I love you," I said. "Even though you're terrible at pep talks and we're both dying and everything's a disaster. I love you."
"I love you too. Even though you're reckless and stubborn and determined to get us both killed saving your mother."
"We're perfect for each other."
"Absolutely perfect."
He kissed me. Gentle. Tender. Like we had all the time in the world instead of days.
When we broke apart, I buried my face in his chest. Let myself be weak for just this moment.
"I'm scared," I whispered.
"So am I."
"Good. At least we're scared together."
"Together," he agreed. "Always together."
We fell asleep like that. Holding each other.
Two days from probable death. Two days from saving my mother or dying trying.
Two days from everything.
But we had tonight.
In all the chaos, that quiet meant everything.