CHAPTER TEN:The Queen’s Rage
1382 Words
The decree fell without warning.
The human is to be executed.
Silence followed heavy, absolute. Even the currents seemed to still.
Lira felt the words settle inside her like ice. Not rumor. Not threat.
Judgment.
Beside her, Kael’s hand tightened around hers, steady but unyielding.
“Who gave the order?” he asked, though the answer was already written in the tension of his voice.
The guard lowered his gaze. “The queen.”
A faint, bitter understanding passed between them.
Lira drew in a slow breath, forcing herself to remain steady. “She was just here,” she said. “She told me to leave.”
Kael’s expression hardened. “She never meant it.”
The truth hung between them, cold and undeniable.
Beyond the chamber doors, movement gathered swift and purposeful. The muted clash of armor, the shifting of guarded positions. Routes closing. Perimeters tightening.
A net drawing closed.
“They’re mobilizing,” the guard said quietly.
Kael did not hesitate. “Hold them as long as you can.”
“My prince—”
“That is an order.”
A brief pause. Then the guard inclined his head. “Yes, Your Highness.”
He departed at once. The doors sealed behind him with a dull, final sound.
Lira’s pulse quickened. “This is happening too fast.”
Kael turned to her, his focus sharp and absolute. “We leave now.”
“Is there a way out?”
“There’s always a way.”
“Are you certain?”
A flicker of truth crossed his face. “No.”
It was not reassurance but it was enough.
He placed his hands lightly at her shoulders. “Stay with me. Whatever happens, do not let go.”
“I won’t.”
For a moment, something softer lingered in his gaze.
Then it vanished.
He turned and forced the doors open.
The corridor beyond had transformed.
Where there had been stillness, there was now a wall of armed guards, their formation tight, their intent unmistakable.
The moment they saw her, the order came.
“Seize the human.”
Kael stepped forward, placing himself between Lira and the advancing line. “Stand down.”
Authority rang in his voice—clear, commanding.
It gave some of them pause.
Not all.
“The queen’s command stands above all,” one replied.
Kael’s expression darkened. “I am the heir to the throne.”
“And she is the throne.”
The last restraint broke.
They advanced.
The water answered Kael’s will at once, surging with sudden brilliance. Currents coiled and lashed outward, striking with controlled force.
“Do not make me do this,” he warned.
No one stopped.
The first strike came. He answered it in kind.
The corridor dissolved into motion.
Kael moved with lethal precision, each gesture deliberate, each surge of water shaped and directed. Power flowed through him as naturally as breath, bending the very sea to his command.
Yet for every guard he forced back, another stepped forward.
Lira remained close to the wall, her breath unsteady, the clash unfolding in flashes of light and movement before her.
This was his domain.
And she stood at its mercy.
A break in the line—
One of them reached her.
She had no time to react.
Before the strike could land, Kael intercepted it, driving the guard aside with a violent surge and pulling her back against him.
“I told you—stay with me.”
“I am.”
“Then don’t fall behind.”
Another wave advanced.
“They won’t stop,” she said.
“No.”
“Then we can’t hold them.”
“We won’t.”
His grip tightened.
“We leave.”
He drove forward, cutting a path through resistance with relentless force. Each step cost them time, strength—ground taken only through effort.
At last, the palace gates came into view.
Beyond them, the open sea stretched wide and dark.
But the path was not clear.
A second line of guards stood waiting.
Lira’s voice faltered. “There are too many.”
Kael did not slow. “Then we make an opening.”
The guards advanced in unison.
Kael answered with everything he had.
The water surged outward in a blinding arc of light, striking with overwhelming force. For a single instant, the formation broke.
“Now.”
They moved.
Out through the gates.
Into the vast, open sea.
The glow of the kingdom receded behind them, swallowed by darkness.
But the pursuit did not end.
Shapes moved beneath the surface—swift, deliberate.
“They’re still coming,” Lira said.
“Yes.”
“Can we outrun them?”
Kael did not answer.
He pulled her onward, guiding her through the current, his pace unrelenting. The water grew colder as they ascended, the pressure tightening around them.
Lira’s strength began to slip.
“I can’t keep up—”
“You can.”
Her breath faltered. “I’m trying.”
“Then stop fighting it,” he said. “Move with it.”
She forced herself to adjust, letting the current carry her rather than resist it.
For a moment, it worked.
Then the water behind them flared.
A strike tore past them.
“They’re attacking.”
“They won’t stop,” Kael said, his voice steady despite the strain.
Ahead, the surface shimmered.
Close.
But not close enough.
One of the shadows surged forward, closing the distance in an instant.
Kael turned—
Too late to avoid it entirely.
He pulled her aside, placing himself in its path.
The impact struck him hard, a sharp, violent force that broke his momentum.
“Kael—”
“I’m fine.”
He wasn’t.
She felt it in the way his grip faltered, in the way the water around him lost its edge.
“Keep moving,” he said.
They broke through the surface.
Air rushed in—cold, sharp, real.
Lira dragged herself toward the shore, each breath raw in her chest. Sand met her hands at last, solid and grounding.
Kael followed, slower now.
They collapsed, the sound of waves filling the space between them.
After a moment, she turned.
“You’re injured.”
Dark blood marked his side.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not.”
He attempted to rise. She stopped him.
“Don’t.”
Their eyes met.
For a brief moment, the world narrowed again—not with fear, but with something quieter, deeper.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said.
“I would have come anyway.”
“You don’t understand what this means.”
“I do.”
A pause.
“I chose it.”
Silence lingered.
Then the sea shifted.
A low, distant tremor rolled beneath the water.
Both of them turned.
The surface began to glow.
Brighter than before.
Unstable.
“What is that?” she asked.
Kael’s expression darkened. “A message.”
“From her?”
“Yes.”
The glow spread, pulsing through the depths like fire beneath the waves.
Lira felt it then.
A pull—sharp, undeniable.
Stronger than before.
She inhaled sharply, her hand pressing against her chest.
“Kael something’s wrong.”
He was beside her at once. “What is it?”
“It’s the same feeling… but stronger.”
Understanding flickered across his face.
“The bond.”
The sea answered, the glow intensifying.
“What’s happening to me?” she asked.
He hesitated.
Then the realization settled fully.
“No… it shouldn’t be this soon.”
“What shouldn’t?”
His gaze met hers.
“You may already be carrying it.”
Her breath stilled.
“Carrying what?”
“The prophecy.”
The words landed heavily.
“That’s not possible,” she said.
But doubt had already taken root.
Because she could feel it.
Something stirring.
Something awakening.
Far below, in the depths of the ocean, Queen Seraphina stood before the ancient prophecy stone. Its light reflected in her eyes as a slow smile curved her lips.
“It begins.”
On the shore, the waves crashed harder.
Lira stared at Kael, her voice barely above a whisper.
“This isn’t real.”
Kael did not answer.
Because he knew—
It was.
And the curse had already taken hold.
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