Chapter 78 COST OF SAVING A QUEEN
Adrian stood frozen, the echo ringing through the chamber. The council erupted into murmurs, with voices overlapping in alarm.
“Your Majesty...”
“We must reconsider...”
“This will divide the court...”
Adrian raised a hand and silence fell.
He turned slowly toward the window, his reflection staring back at him in the glass. Doubt crept in, unwelcome and insidious. Selene had advised him to place Athalia in the tower for her “safety.” Selene had also assured him the torment and the magic was temporary.
Had he made a grave mistake?
In the tower, Athalia stirred.
Time blurred, pain ebbed and surged in dull waves. She no longer knew how long she had lain there. The light through the window had shifted, angling differently across the floor. Her throat was dry, and her limbs heavy.
Footsteps echoed faintly beyond the tower door.
Her heart stuttered.
She struggled upright, dragging herself toward the sound. “Hello?” Her voice cracked.
The footsteps stopped.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then a familiar presence brushed against her senses, cool and electric, like the first breath before a storm.
The runes dimmed.
The door creaked open.
Selene stepped inside, with her silver eyes unreadable.
Athalia’s breath caught, hope and fear colliding in her chest. “Selene…”
The sorceress closed the door behind her, the runes flaring softly once more.
“I’m sorry, your highness” Selene said quietly.
Athalia’s fingers curled against the stone. “Why?”
Selene met her gaze, and for the first time, Athalia saw something flicker there like regret, sharpened by resolve.
“Because,” Selene said, “i.. needed to.”
Athalia stared at her, the weight of the words sinking in too slowly.
“What did you do?” she whispered.
Selene stepped closer, lowering herself to one knee. “What I had to.”
Outside the tower, thunder rolled across the sky as King Adrian turned toward the stairway, suspicion burning through him, unaware that the truth waiting above would shatter everything he believed about loyalty, sacrifice, and the cost of saving a queen.
That night, Adrian did not sleep.
The chamber was quiet, too quiet for a palace that usually breathed with soft footsteps and whispered orders even at night. The fire had burned low, reduced to embers that glowed faintly and cast long, wavering shadows across the walls. Adrian sat on the edge of his bed, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped so tightly his fingers ached.
"Ask her where your queen truly is.?" He said.
Celine’s voice lingered in his mind, sharp and deliberate. Not shouted, not pleaded but spoken as though she had already won something he had not yet realized he’d lost.
Adrian closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
He had dismissed it at first as an attempt to poison him with doubt now that she had lost everything. Celine had always been clever with words, always known where to press. But the more he replayed the moment, the more it gnawed at him. She had not sounded desperate but had sounded certain.
He rose abruptly and crossed the chamber. The guards outside straightened at once.
“Summon Captain Caleb,” Adrian said. “Now.”
Minutes later, boots echoed through the corridor. Caleb entered, armor gleaming faintly in the firelight, his expression attentive but guarded.
“You sent for me, Your Majesty.”
Adrian did not waste time. “I want the queen found.”
Caleb's brow creased. “She remains in the tower, does she not? Lady Selene...”
“Find her,” Adrian cut in. “Search the tower. Search the grounds. Search everywhere.”
Caleb hesitated. “Your Majesty, Lady Selene had assured the council...”
Adrian’s gaze snapped to him. “I am not asking for reassurance. I am giving an order to confirm if the Queen is there and alive.”
Caleb bowed immediately. “At once.”
The guards moved swiftly. Adrian followed as far as the tower’s outer doors, his boots striking stone with measured force. The night air was sharp, carrying the scent of rain and something else like ozone, perhaps, or magic disturbed.
Torches flared as the guards ascended the winding stair. Adrian waited below, jaw tight, eyes fixed on the dark archway that swallowed them.
Time stretched.
One guard returned first, breathless. “The tower is sealed, Your Majesty. The runes are intact.”
“And the queen?”
The guard swallowed. “We… we could not see anyone.”
Adrian’s chest tightened. “What do you mean, could not see her?”
“The light reflecting from the door side within is strange,” the guard said. “but we have seen no one inside.”
Another guard arrived, shaking his head. “There was no maid or response to our calls.”
Adrian stared up at the tower, its stone walls smooth and unyielding. The runes along its surface pulsed faintly, almost imperceptibly, as if aware of his scrutiny.
“She was supposed to be here and protected,” Adrian said quietly.
Caleb shifted beside him. “Lady Selene swore the tower was the safest place but I cannot place why the Queen isn't here.”
Adrian said nothing.
He returned to his chambers with the taste of iron on his tongue. Sleep still refused him. He paced instead, each step measured, as though movement alone could keep his thoughts from spiraling.
Selene had been with Athalia since before their marriage. She had counseled patience when the court had turned sharp. She had spoken gently of balance, and of unseen dangers. She had been the one to notice Athalia’s illness first.
And she had been the one to suggest isolation.
Adrian stopped pacing.
The memory rose unbidden: Selene standing by the window, moonlight silvering her hair, her voice calm as she said, The pregnancy will weaken her further if she remains here.
Pregnancy.
He clenched his fists.
By dawn, his decision was made.
Celine’s cell lay beneath the palace, but carved deep into the rock. It was not damp or filthy and Adrian did not believe in cruelty for its own sake but it was stark. Stone walls, a narrow cot and a single torch burning in an iron sconce.
Celine sat on the cot when Adrian entered, her posture composed, hands folded in her lap. She looked up as the guards stepped aside.
“I wondered when you would come,” she said.
Adrian dismissed the guards with a gesture. The heavy door shut behind him, echoing.
“You said Selene knows where my queen truly is,” Adrian said.
Celine smiled faintly. “Straight to it. Good.”
"Where is she?".