Chapter 12: Secrets in Silver Blood
1277 Words
The war room was colder than the dining chamber.
No candles for beauty.
No polished luxuries.
Only maps, weapons racks, reports, and men who looked exhausted for a living.
A massive table dominated the center, covered in pinned markers showing villages, borders, trade routes, and attack points.
Kael entered first with Destiny beside him.
Everyone else adjusted around that fact.
Commanders bowed.
Messengers straightened.
Strategists pretended not to stare.
Queen Mother Evelyne arrived last, walking with the calm authority of someone who had ruled before most of them were born. Princess Lyra followed carrying wine she had absolutely stolen from dinner.
“If we’re discussing doom,” Lyra said, pouring herself a glass, “I prefer hydration.”
Kael ignored her.
“Report.”
General Cassian, broad-shouldered and scarred across one cheek, pointed to the map.
“Three western villages attacked within two hours. Livestock taken. Two granaries burned. Minimal bodies.”
“Minimal?” Kael asked.
Cassian’s face hardened.
“Because they were taken alive.”
The room darkened.
Destiny’s stomach turned.
“Why would rogues take prisoners?” she asked quietly.
Several officers looked surprised she had spoken.
Cassian answered anyway.
“Ordinary rogues wouldn’t.”
Kael’s gaze sharpened.
“So they are not ordinary.”
“No.”
He tapped another marker.
“They move with coordination. Withdraw before reinforcements arrive. No infighting. No scent chaos.”
Disciplined rogues.
That sounded worse than an army.
Kael looked to Evelyne.
“You said old powers.”
The Queen Mother folded gloved hands.
“I said if she is what I suspect.”
Destiny resisted the urge to scream.
“I would deeply appreciate being included in conversations about me.”
Lyra nearly applauded.
Evelyne’s eyes flicked to Destiny.
“Good spine.”
“Lifelong necessity.”
The older woman nodded once.
“Then listen carefully.”
The room quieted.
“Centuries ago, before the current throne consolidated the territories, there existed four Lunar Houses. Bloodlines gifted by the Moon Goddess—or cursed by ambitious men, depending on your politics.”
Lyra sipped wine.
“Mother always did love nuance.”
Evelyne continued.
“One House healed. One bound alliances. One commanded warding light.”
Her gaze fixed on Destiny.
“And one awakened power through emotional rupture.”
Destiny went still.
The rejection.
The pain.
The blast in the forest.
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“You think she descends from the Fourth House.”
“I think,” Evelyne said coolly, “that the room shook when a frightened girl defended herself.”
General Cassian crossed his arms.
“The Fourth House was exterminated.”
“So history claims,” Evelyne replied.
“History lies often when men write it.”
Lyra lifted her glass.
“To accuracy.”
No one joined.
---
Destiny stepped back from the table.
“This is absurd.”
No one contradicted her quickly enough.
“I was a servant two weeks ago.”
“You were oppressed two weeks ago,” Evelyne corrected. “That is not the same as ordinary.”
Destiny laughed once, sharp and humorless.
“So now I’m secretly magical royalty?”
Kael spoke quietly.
“No one said royalty.”
Lyra tilted her head.
“I considered it.”
He ignored her.
Destiny looked at her hands.
They looked the same.
Plain.
Human.
How could hands that scrubbed floors break trees?
“How do you know?” she asked.
Evelyne nodded toward Kael.
“Because his grandfather tried to kill the last confirmed heir.”
The room froze.
Even Kael looked startled.
“You never told me that.”
“You never asked interesting questions.”
“Grandmother.”
“Temper later.”
Destiny’s pulse raced.
“The king’s family hunted them?”
Evelyne’s expression did not soften.
“Some did. Some opposed it. Power makes cowards imaginative.”
Kael’s voice turned dangerously calm.
“If this is true, why tell us now?”
“Because someone else knows.”
She pointed to the map.
“These attacks are bait.”
Cassian swore under his breath.
Kael understood first.
“They’re flushing territories.”
“Searching,” Evelyne said.
“For her.”
Every eye in the room shifted to Destiny.
The urge to run rose so fast it almost moved her feet.
Kael stepped closer—not touching, just near enough to anchor the room.
“No one takes you.”
His certainty hit her harder than fear.
She hated how much it helped.
---
A messenger burst through the doors.
“My King!”
He dropped to one knee, panting.
“Speak.”
“The southern tower reports infiltrators inside the palace grounds.”
Steel hissed free across the room.
Cassian barked orders.
Guards rushed.
Kael was already moving.
“Lock down every wing. No exits.”
He turned to Destiny.
“With me.”
“I can walk on my own.”
“Thrilling. Do it beside me.”
Lyra grinned.
“They flirt terribly under pressure.”
“We do not,” Kael said.
“You absolutely do,” said half the room silently.
---
The palace corridors had transformed into controlled chaos.
Guards sprinted.
Servants were escorted to secured rooms.
Doors barred.
Lanterns lit.
Destiny moved quickly beside Kael and Cassian through eastern halls.
Her pulse thudded too hard.
She kept sensing… something.
A pressure behind the walls.
Wrongness.
They reached her suite.
The door hung open.
Splintered.
Inside, drawers ripped out. Cushions slashed. Curtains torn down.
Old Nora stood in the center holding a fireplace poker like a war hero.
Three unconscious men lay around her.
Cassian stopped dead.
Kael blinked once.
Destiny ran forward.
“Nora!”
“I’m fine,” Nora said briskly. “One of them was rude, so I corrected his breathing.”
Kael looked at the bodies.
“Remind me never to misplace your tea.”
“One already twitched,” Nora said. “I hit him again.”
Cassian laughed outright.
Destiny hugged her hard.
Nora patted her back.
“Don’t cry. I won.”
Kael crouched beside one intruder and tore away the mask.
Not rogue.
Clean-shaven. Military bearing. Tattoo behind the ear.
Cassian cursed.
“Black Fang mercenaries.”
Kael’s eyes went glacial.
“Who hired them?”
One of the men groaned awake.
Kael seized his throat before he could rise.
“Try honesty,” Kael said softly. “It may be your last novelty.”
The mercenary smirked bloodily.
“Too late.”
He bit down.
Foam hit his lips.
Dead within seconds.
Poison capsule.
Cassian swore again.
Destiny stared, shaken.
These men had come to take her.
To kill themselves before speaking.
What was she tangled in?
Kael stood slowly.
“Take the others alive if possible.”
Cassian barked orders.
Guards hauled bodies out.
The room emptied until only Kael, Destiny, and Nora remained.
Destiny’s hands shook.
“I don’t understand any of this.”
Kael looked at her ruined room.
Then at her.
“You don’t need to tonight.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“No,” he said quietly. “But it’s what I have.”
She stepped closer despite herself.
“Are you afraid?”
The question surprised them both.
Kael held her gaze.
“Yes.”
Her breath caught.
“For yourself?”
He shook his head once.
“For what happens if I fail you.”
The room went very still.
Then somewhere in the palace, a horn sounded three rapid blasts.
Emergency.
Cassian’s voice roared from the corridor.
“My King! We’ve lost the Queen Mother!”
Kael’s expression turned lethal.
And Destiny’s pulse exploded with silver light.
- Writer
