Chapter 180
Raif slams his hands onto the table and rises to his feet, his wiry frame taut with barely contained fury. “You want to fight, nephew?” he growls, his voice echoing through the grand hall. “Then you’ll do so on Ao’s terms. Do you presume to be worthy of being Heir? Prove you’re fit to be a Prince first.”
Cora and I both rise from our seats, words of protest spilling from our mouths simultaneously. “This is madness,” Cora snaps. “You can’t just—”
“Enough!” Raif barks, cutting her off with a glare. He waves his hand, and guards step forward from the shadows, their weapons gleaming ominously in the flickering light. “Take him,” Raif orders, gesturing to Khale.
“You can’t do this!” I shout, stepping forward instinctively. “He hasn’t done anything wrong!”
Raif turns his gaze on me, cold and unyielding. “Would you like to join him?” he sneers.
Khale’s voice cuts through the rising tension, calm and steady despite the situation. “Phoebe, Cora,” he says, his azure eyes locking onto mine. “We’ll be fine.”
The words are simple, but the way he says them, the slight emphasis on “we,” tells me what he’s truly saying. He’ll be with Wake. My mate won’t be alone. It’s a small comfort, but it steadies me enough to remain silent as the guards seize Khale and haul him away.
When the heavy doors close behind them, Raif declares dinner over with a sharp gesture. “Enough excitement for one evening,” he says, his tone flippant. “To your chambers, all of you.”
As we leave, Kota catches my hand. I freeze, startled, and he presses an envelope into my palm. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles. The gesture makes my skin crawl, but I know better than to pull away. Instead, I give him a curt nod and quickly retreat, catching up to Cora.
“You did well not to mention Wake,” Cora whispers as we walk. “We’re only safe here as long as Raif sees us as useful.”
I glance at the envelope in my hand and whisper back, “And that means allowing Kota to court me.”
Cora’s expression darkens. “For as long as you can,” she says grimly. “At least until we find a way out of this.”
When we return to the tower room, we find the queen awake. She’s sitting by the large window, her silhouette framed by the faint glow of the city below. A thin wisp of smoke curls around her as she exhales, holding some kind of pipe delicately in her fingers.
“My sons fancy you,” she says distantly, her voice soft and far away. “I am both regretful and relieved… how odd.”
I glance at Cora, unsure how to respond. The queen is… strange, but I keep the thought to myself. Instead, I sit on the edge of the bed and open the envelope. Inside is a neatly folded note. As I read, my stomach twists.
“What does it say?” Cora asks, her voice low.
I swallow hard and reply, “Kota wants to take me to his favorite place in the palace.”
Cora raises an eyebrow. “And where might that be?”
I hesitate. “The Garden,” I say finally.
The queen’s reaction is immediate. She begins to shudder, her hands gripping the arms of her chair. “That fool boy!” she curses, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and fear.
Alarmed, I rush to her side. “Are you okay?” I ask, placing a hand on her arm.
The moment my skin touches hers, the world shifts.
I’m no longer in the tower room. Instead, I’m watching a scene unfold as though through a pane of glass. Khale is being hauled into a dark, crowded dungeon. The air feels heavy and oppressive, the walls lined with faintly glowing veins of Darklite. My heart clenches when I see Wake among the other prisoners, his expression grim but fierce.
When Khale spots him, they move toward each other, their arms linking in a gesture of solidarity. They exchange words, their voices low and urgent, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. The scene begins to fade, and I’m pulled back to reality with a gasp.
I’m back in the tower room, my arm still resting on the queen’s now-slack form. I stumble back, my breath coming in short, sharp bursts. My gaze drifts to the distant arena visible through the window. I know, with absolute certainty, that it’s the Pit. That’s where Wake and Khale are being held.
“Phoebe, are you okay?” Cora’s voice cuts through my daze. She’s at my side, her brow furrowed with concern.
I tell her what I saw, my words tumbling out in a rush. When I finish, Cora’s gaze shifts to the queen, who remains motionless in her chair.
“That explains it,” Cora says, her tone thoughtful. “It explains a lot.”
I frown. “What does?”
“She’s a seer,” Cora says simply.
I blink. “She can see the future?”
Cora nods. “It’s not common. Not at all. But if this woman is a seer, it would explain why she’s in this condition… among other things.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, dread curling in my stomach.
Cora’s expression grows grim. “Seers have an incredibly powerful connection to the ether. It’s often overwhelming… unpredictable. Visions come and go like dreams, sometimes like blinking. They can see the past, present, and future, often of people and places they’ve never known. It’s enough to drive anyone mad in the best of circumstances.”
I swallow hard. “And these aren’t the best of circumstances.”
Cora shakes her head. “Not with all that Darklite woven throughout this city. Her connection to the ether isn’t just impacted. It’s corrupted. Poisoning her from the inside out. It’s killing her.”
The queen stirs, her voice weak but resolute. “It will have all been worth it,” she murmurs. “To see my son become Heir.”
Cora rushes to her side. “You need to take it easy,” she says firmly.
The queen gives a faint, bitter laugh. “Dying is the easy part,” she whispers. “Living through the last few decades was the torture.”
“Living with Raif?” I ask softly.
The queen’s gaze turns distant. “With him… with myself… living without my mate.”
Cora’s voice is solemn. “Will you tell us what really happened?”
The queen exhales shakily. “One night, many years ago, I received a hundred thousand visions all at once. Each shows unavoidable, terrible futures. All but one where Leviathan and his kin reigned.”
I lean forward. “And the last?”
“Peace,” the queen says softly. “It was the only future where my Khale was Heir. But it also meant… allowing my mate to die.”
I look at the anguish in her eyes, the aftermath of unimaginable sacrifice. “Khale thinks you’re the one who stabbed his father. You didn’t did you?”
Her eyes shutter, “I may as well have handled the blade myself. But no, I didn’t. Still, I am the one to blame, and that is a sin I must own.” She cups my face with a trembling hand, her eyes filled with an ancient sadness. “I don’t know your future, child. But I know you’re important. Sacrifices will need to be made. Unbearable ones. You mustn’t shy away from them.”
Cora’s gaze drops to the letter in my hand, her expression grim. “Starting with that,” she says quietly.
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