Chapter 507 To Preserve A Queen

Chapter 507 To Preserve A Queen
(Adelaide) 

The room had grown lighter. She knew that because the pale volcanic stone surrounding her no longer glowed with the warm amber of the palace lanterns. Instead, soft crimson daylight filtered through the towering crystal windows overlooking the basin beyond, washing across the floor in muted shades of rose and gold. 
She hadn't watched the sun rise. She hadn't slept. She remained exactly where Cael had left her. 
Her back rested against the wall beside the window, knees drawn loosely towards her chest, the same blanket one of the attendants had draped across her shoulders sometime during the night pooled forgotten around her waist. At some point the chamber had grown cold. She remembered noticing it. She simply hadn't cared enough to move. 
Every time she closed her eyes... She saw him. Not the spy. Not the prince. The man standing before her with tears streaming silently down his face as he apologised for loving her too late. 
A soft knock disturbed the silence. 
"My Queen?" 
She didn't answer. The door opened anyway. Two young attendants entered carrying neatly folded gowns over one arm and polished silver basins steaming gently with fresh water. A third followed with brushes, ribbons, and jewellery laid carefully on an embroidered cloth. 
They smiled the moment they saw her. Then the smiles faded. 
One of them glanced quickly towards the untouched bed before looking back at Adelaide. 
"My Queen..." she said carefully, "the morning meal will be served shortly. We thought perhaps you might like to bathe before Lord Arkael resumes your lessons." 
Lessons. The word barely registered. 
Adelaide continued staring through the crystal beyond the window. 
One of the maids stepped forward cautiously. 
"My Queen?" 
"...No." The single word sounded strange. Small. As though someone else had spoken it. 
The three women exchanged uncertain glances. 
"If it pleases you," the eldest ventured gently, "we can return later." 
Adelaide nodded once. "I'd like to be alone." 
No one argued. Within moments, the chamber fell silent once more. The door closed softly behind them. She never looked up. Her eyes remained fixed upon the crystal basin below, though she couldn't honestly have said what she was looking at. 
All she could see... Was him. 
"Things that burn like you don't survive long here." 
His voice drifted through her memory with painful clarity. 
"And for reasons that are not your concern yet... I'm invested in seeing how long you can prove me wrong." 
At the time she'd rolled her eyes. Thought he was just being irritating. Thought he enjoyed speaking in riddles because it amused him. 
Now... Her stomach twisted. 
The reasons had existed from the very beginning. She simply hadn't been allowed to know them. 
She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes until tiny bursts of colour danced behind her eyelids. 
No. 
No, because that wasn't fair. He hadn't known her then. Not really. He'd known the prophecy. The Queen. The mission. But not Adelaide. 
Hadn't he? 
She lowered her hands slowly. The shadows gathered quietly in the corners of her chamber. Without thinking, her eyes found them. They lingered there. Waiting. Half expecting the darkness to ripple. Half expecting one familiar figure to emerge with that quiet, awkward smile that never quite reached both corners of his mouth. 
She continued staring. The darkness remained exactly as it was. Empty. 
A shaky breath escaped her. 
"I don't know who you are anymore." 
The words disappeared into the silence. No one answered. 
The silence refused to stay silent. It filled instead with memories. Not the grand moments. Not the battles. But the little ones. The ones she'd never realised had become the foundation of loving him. 
Her eyes drifted towards the untouched bed. 
She remembered the first night she'd slept properly since leaving the solid walls of the Citadel. She had woken to find his cloak draped over her because the open air had grown colder while she slept. When she'd asked him about it the next morning, he'd shrugged as though it had been nothing. 
"You looked cold." 
At the time... She had believed him. Now she wondered whether a frightened Queen was easier to escort than a sick one. The thought made her stomach churn. 
"No..." She whispered the word into the empty chamber before she could stop herself. 
He had looked annoyed when she'd thanked him. Almost embarrassed. She remembered that much. Would someone pretending have looked embarrassed? She didn't know anymore. 
Her thoughts slipped elsewhere. The cross. Gods... The cross. 
She remembered hanging there, wrists squeezed tight with that magical rope, every muscle screaming beneath her own weight. She remembered the sound of Apollo's footsteps every time he re-entered the chamber, whether to demand more answers or use her body, making her feel things she didn’t think possible. Then she remembered those footsteps disappearing again, and believing she had been abandoned until morning. 
Then another pair of footsteps. Quiet. Careful. She remembered lifting her head just enough to see him standing there holding a cup. 
"Drink." His voice had been little more than a whisper. 
He had held the water to her lips himself because she hadn't possessed the strength to lift her own head. She remembered the way his fingers had trembled. The fear in his eyes every time he glanced towards the doorway. The desperate relief when she'd managed to swallow. 
Her own throat tightened. Had that been real? Or had he simply been preserving the Queen his father had waited a thousand years to find? 
She hated herself for even asking. She hated him for making her ask.