Chapter 136

Chapter 136
Raven’s pov;

I laid awake in the small bed I shared with my mother and stared at the ceiling, my mother’s soft snore being the only thing preventing total silence.

I remembered a garden under the moonlight in Grok. Liam’s hand brushing against mine. The way he looked at me and the first time his lips touched mine.

I sat up, clutching the blanket.

It hadn’t felt like a dream. Not at all. I could still taste the bourbon on his mouth, feel the warmth of his chest when he pulled me closer.

How could a dream feel so real?

“Then why,” I whispered, “am I here again?”

The next morning, i didn’t go to princess Ellie’s quarters, I waited until my mother woke up, damming the consequences of that. 

“Raven!” She snapped. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the princess’ quarters?” She glanced around frantically. “You need to go now,” she pushed a strand of hair from my face. “I don’t want her to hurt you again.”

“I needed to talk to you,” I said softly. “I’ll be fine.”

She burrowed her brows. “About what?”

I swallowed the painful lump in my throat. “About who I am. About… my father.”

Her hands froze, her eyes paled, just as it did whenever I brought the topic about him. 

“Mother please! This is important, you have to answer me!”

“Raven!” I had never seen her this angry, but I didn’t care. I need answers and I needed them immediately.

“I dreamed…” My voice cracked. “No, it wasn’t just a dream. I saw things. The mad king… Valtarra. I was told I belonged there. That i am his descendant.”

The room seemed to shrink. She stumbled and the flower put close to her clattered to the ground. 

“Raven,” she said firmly, steadying herself by holding the table, “listen to me. That’s nonsense. You were born here, in Belgravia. Your father was no king. He was a farmer. A farmer who died before you could even walk, his parents hated me and made sure I cut off all ties with them.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t believe that. I felt it. It was too real.”

Her voice sharpened. “You’ve always had wild dreams. You think too much. That’s the thing with you.”

I stared at her, tears streamed down her face as though it was such a painful memory. “But it felt so real, mum. Liam, the council, the coronation…”

Her face paled. “Liam? Who is Liam?”

“The King of Grok,” I whispered.

She laughed, but i could see that it didn’t reach her eyes. “Child, you must stop. You’ve built castles in your sleep.”

“Mum….”

“Raven, it’s going to get better. But for now, you have to accept that this is your life. Scrubbing floors, serving Ellie, staying quiet. Anything else is just a cruel dream. Forget it before it destroys you.”

Her words pierced into my heart like dagger.

But there was something about he eyes. She looked too calm and she spoke mechanically, as though she was reading from a script.

Later that day, I found Tate in the stables. He was brushing down the mane of one of the royal horses, his dark hair damp with sweat.

“Tate,” I said softly, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.

He looked up and smiled faintly. “Raven!” He grinned. “What are you doing here? The princess will have my head if she sees you here.”

“I need to tell you something.”

He raised a brow. “What’s wrong?”

I lowered my voice. “I had a dream. No… Tate, it was more than a dream. I lived another life. I wasn’t a servant. I was in Grok. I met their king. Liam.”

Tate stilled, the brush halting against the horse’s mane. He turned slowly to me, his expression unreadable.

“Raven,” he said slowly, “dreams can trick us. They feel real because our hearts want them to be. But that doesn’t mean they are.”

“But it wasn’t just feelings,” I pressed. “I remember everything. The council. Lady Joanna. Annalise. Dorian. Even you, you were there, Tate. Protecting me.”

He clenched his jaw and then threw his head back and laughed. “You see how wild it sounds? Annalise, Dorian? Me? I’m here, I’ve never left Belgravia. I think you’ve let your sleep confuse you. This is your world. Belgravia. Princess Ellie, me, your mum. That’s it.”

“Why do you sound like her?” I whispered.

“Like who?”

“My mother. She told me the same thing. Word for word.”

He frowned. “Because it’s the truth. And the sooner you accept it, the less it will hurt.”

I stepped back, my heaet thudding wildly. “No. Something’s wrong. Why would you both say the same thing, as if someone told you what to say?”

“Raven.”

“No!” My voice cracked. Tate akways encouraged me. He would never sound this way.

“It wasn’t a dream. It couldn’t have been.”

And when I glanced at him again, I was certain that the smile didn’t reach his eyes. It was a fake smile.

That evening, Ellie made me stand behind her as she practiced her speech for the healers’ examinations.

“You there,” she snapped, pointing at me without looking up from the mirror, “bring me water. My throat feels dry.”

I obeyed, my hands shaking.

She took a sip abd let out a deep sigh. “You’re so clumsy. You spill even water. What good are you? You should be grateful I let you breathe the same air as me.”

I didn’t say anything, didn’t even react. All I fekt for her was pity.

“Say something, Raven,” she demanded. “Do you have a tongue, or is it as useless as the rest of you?”

I stared at her. And then the words tumbled out before I could stop them.

“This isn’t real.”

Ellie froze. “What did you say?”

“This,” I said louder, my voice trembling but steady, “isn’t real. None of it. Not you, not this palace, not my servitude.”

Her face twisted with fury. She struck me hard across the cheek, harder than before.

But instead of pain, I felt… nothing.

The walls behind her began to crack.

She stepped back, her eyes wide. “What…what is this?”

The mirror shattered. The floor shattered and dust rained down from the ceiling.

Ellie’s voice turned frantic. “Stop it! Stop this nonsense!”

But I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“This isn’t real,” I repeated, louder. “I know who I am. I know what I lived.”

Ellie kept screaming, but it faded into the background and then…

“Raven.”

The voice was distant but i heard it clearly. 

Liam.