Chapter 129 CHAPTER 129
The house slept above her, unaware that beneath its stone lungs, something old was still breathing.
Queen Helena had barely left her chambers before Seraphine turned away. She descended the narrow staircase to the basement with fury stitched into every step. The torch in her hand flared brighter than necessary, fire responding eagerly to her mood, licking the walls as if it, too, wanted answers.
The idea that a girl appeared and disappeared into the dungeons without an explanation was still eating at her.
That was impossible.
Nothing moved in her village without her knowing.
Unless…
Her boots hit the final step, and the air changed. The basement was colder, heavier, the kind of cold that didn’t come from stone but from restraint. Wards hummed faintly in the walls. Old magic. Not hers.
She stopped before an iron gate embedded into the rock itself. Beyond it was a small room reinforced with metal ribs and runes etched so deeply they looked scarred. A prison disguised as a cellar. A secret buried so far beneath the castle that even whispers struggled to reach it.
Inside, a woman sat cross-legged on the floor.
Her back was straight. Her breathing slow. Her eyes closed.
She looked peaceful.
Seraphine’s grip tightened around the torch.
“So this is what you’re doing now?” she said sharply. “Sitting. Breathing. Pretending you don’t exist.”
The woman did not respond.
Seraphine took a step closer to the bars. “Jocelyn.”
Silence.
The fire snapped loudly, throwing shadows across the iron. Seraphine’s jaw clenched. “Do not ignore me. Do not test me. Just because you are my sister does not mean I won’t hurt you.”
Jocelyn opened her eyes.
“I know you can, blood means nothing to you – sister” She responded calmly, her eyes dark and reflective, like a lake that had learned how to hide its depth.
“You’re making a lot of noise,” Jocelyn said mildly. “What is it this time? What have I done now?”
Seraphine laughed, sharp and humorless. “What have you done?” She stepped forward, sparks jumping from her boots. “Did you lie to me?”
Jocelyn tilted her head. “About what?”
“Your powers,” Seraphine snapped. “About being stripped of them. About becoming human.” Her voice dropped. “There was a girl in the dungeons.”
Jocelyn’s expression did not change.
“She was there,” Seraphine went on, pacing now. “She spoke. She vanished. No guards saw her enter. No one saw her leave. And do you know what that tells me?”
Jocelyn said nothing.
“It tells me someone is moving through realms again.” Seraphine turned, eyes blazing. “And the only person who ever had that ability - who could bend space without tearing it - was you.”
Jocelyn’s lips curved, just barely. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Seraphine stopped pacing. “Quit playing dumb with me.”
She slammed her palm against the bars. Fire burst outward, racing along the iron before the wards swallowed it whole. The impact echoed through the chamber.
“The only reason you’re still alive,” Seraphine hissed, “is because I don’t believe that story you keep feeding me. That you lost your power. That you’re nothing now. And even if I did believe it, I know one thing.”
She leaned in close, eyes wild. “Power does not vanish. It goes somewhere. And I want to know where you hid it.”
Jocelyn slowly rose to her feet.
The chains around her ankles clinked softly, but she ignored them, stepping closer until only the bars separated them. Up close, she looked thinner than she once had, but not weaker. If anything, the years had sharpened her.
“You really think I would give it back to you?” Jocelyn asked quietly. “After what you made me do?”
Seraphine’s expression hardened.
“I will die before I tell you where it went,” Jocelyn continued. “I told you that years ago. You used my magic for your ambition. You twisted it. You turned it into something vile.” Her eyes burned now, finally. “I will keep it as far from you as I can. Even if it costs me everything.”
She laughed softly, shaking her head. “Look at you. Still pretending.”
Seraphine snarled. “Watch your mouth.”
Jocelyn stepped closer to the bars. “Is that fear I see in your eyes?”
The word fear landed like a blade.
“Are you afraid,” Jocelyn pressed, “that they’ll find out the truth about Mooncrest?”
Seraphine’s fire flickered.
“Seventeen years ago,” Jocelyn went on, voice smooth, relentless, “an entire village burned. They whisper your name like a curse. They believe you did it alone. That your power was unstoppable.”
She leaned forward. “What if they find out it was never you?”
The torch in Seraphine’s hand flared violently.
“What if they find out,” Jocelyn said softly, “that you were never that powerful? That everything they feared was borrowed? That I was the one you used?”
Fire exploded from Seraphine’s clenched fists, tearing through the bars and slamming into the far wall. Stone cracked. Dust rained down.
Jocelyn didn’t flinch.
“Careful,” she said calmly. “You might burn your own house down.”
Seraphine trembled with rage. “Stop it,” she snapped. “I won’t let you get into my mind. Ever since you started these meditations, every time I come here you try to slip past my walls.”
She took a sharp breath. “I came here for answers. Tell me. Do you know who the intruder was?”
Jocelyn studied her for a long moment.
“No,” she said at last. “And even if I did, I would never tell you.”
Seraphine’s eyes widened.
“In fact,” Jocelyn added, a slow smile spreading, “I would look for them myself. And I would congratulate them.”
Seraphine recoiled as if struck.
“They’re doing something good,” Jocelyn said. “They’re making you afraid. Maybe -finally - you’ve found someone who will end this. Someone who will free the village from your hold.”
She laughed then, a soft, genuine sound that echoed in the chamber.
“I can’t wait for that day.”
Seraphine turned away abruptly, cloak snapping behind her. Her fire dimmed, but her anger did not. As she climbed the stairs, she did not look back.
Behind her, Jocelyn returned to the floor, crossing her legs once more.
She closed her eyes.
And smiled.