S1, Chapter 12: The Throne Beneath
1594 Words
The floor split beneath our feet.
I barely had time to react before Kael pulled me toward the council table, away from the widening crack. Stone groaned beneath us, and the entire chamber tilted as something enormous shifted beneath the palace.
Lucian grabbed the edge of the table.
“Get away from the center.”
Kael looked at him.
“What is beneath us?”
Lucian's expression had changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“The old throne.”
The crack widened.
A deep vibration rolled through the palace, not loud enough to be called an explosion, but strong enough to rattle the windows and shake dust from the ceiling. Somewhere above us, soldiers began shouting.
I looked down.
There was light beneath the broken floor.
Silver light.
It rose through the cracks like mist.
My palm burned.
Kael caught my wrist.
“Elena.”
“I know.”
The mark on my skin was moving.
The crescent had opened into something resembling a flower, each silver line spreading slowly across my palm.
Lucian stared at it.
“It has begun.”
“What has begun?”
“The awakening.”
Kael looked toward the broken floor.
“Can we stop it?”
Lucian hesitated.
“No.”
Kael's expression hardened.
“Then tell me what we can do.”
“Survive.”
The floor collapsed.
Kael pulled me against him as the chamber disappeared beneath us.
We fell.
For several seconds there was nothing except darkness and the sensation of dropping through empty space. I heard Kael call my name, but his voice seemed distant.
Then something caught us.
A burst of silver light exploded beneath my feet.
I landed hard against smooth stone.
Kael landed beside me.
Lucian appeared several meters away, already standing.
I looked around.
We were inside an enormous underground chamber.
It was impossible to tell how far it extended.
Pillars rose into darkness, covered in ancient carvings. Silver crystals grew from the walls like frozen branches, illuminating a massive circular platform at the center of the room.
And on that platform stood a throne.
It wasn't made of gold.
It wasn't decorated with jewels.
It was carved from black stone, wrapped in silver roots that seemed to move whenever the light touched them.
I knew immediately that it was the throne from the legends.
The first throne.
Kael stared at it.
“No one has seen this for centuries.”
Lucian shook his head.
“Because no one was supposed to.”
I stepped forward.
The silver mark on my palm pulsed.
The throne responded.
One of the silver roots lifted from the stone.
Kael grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because we don't know what it will do.”
Lucian walked toward us.
“We know exactly what it will do.”
Kael turned.
“Then explain.”
“It will recognize her.”
“She's already been recognized.”
“No.”
Lucian looked at the throne.
“This is different.”
The root moved again.
It reached toward me.
I should have stepped back.
Instead, I let it touch my palm.
The moment it did, the chamber disappeared.
I was standing in a forest.
Snow covered the ground.
A woman was kneeling beneath an enormous silver tree, holding a newborn child against her chest.
My mother.
I knew her immediately.
She looked younger than she had in any memory I remembered.
Tears covered her face.
Someone stood behind her.
A man.
Lucian.
He placed his hand on her shoulder.
“We have to go.”
“I can't.”
“You have to.”
She looked down at the baby.
“She'll be hunted.”
“I know.”
“She'll be alone.”
“I know.”
“She'll hate us.”
Lucian closed his eyes.
“Better hatred than a grave.”
The vision shifted.
My mother was running.
The child was wrapped tightly against her chest.
Behind her, soldiers were approaching through the snow.
One wore the Ashthorne crest.
Another wore silver.
They were fighting each other.
Not hunting together.
Fighting.
My mother reached a stone gate.
A young woman waited there.
Lyra.
She was younger too.
My mother handed her the child.
“Protect her.”
Lyra took me.
“What about you?”
My mother looked back toward the soldiers.
“I'll make them believe she's dead.”
The vision changed again.
A palace.
A throne room.
My mother stood before a younger Queen Mother Selene.
They were arguing.
Selene was crying.
“You promised me she would never return.”
“I promised she would survive.”
“You don't understand what her blood can do.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Selene looked terrified.
“If the throne awakens, the Ashthorne dynasty will fall.”
My mother answered quietly.
“Perhaps it should.”
The vision shattered.
I returned to the underground chamber.
I collapsed.
Kael caught me before I hit the ground.
“What did you see?”
I couldn't speak.
Lucian approached.
He saw my expression.
“She remembers.”
Kael looked at him.
“What?”
Lucian's voice was quiet.
“The throne showed her the past.”
I pushed myself away from Kael.
“My mother knew Selene.”
“Yes.”
“She wasn't running from the Ashthornes.”
Lucian said nothing.
“She was working with them.”
“For a time.”
“Why?”
“To hide you.”
I looked at the throne.
“What happened afterward?”
Lucian's expression darkened.
“Selene changed her mind.”
“Why?”
“Because she learned what the throne would do if you awakened it.”
Kael stepped forward.
“What does it do?”
Lucian looked at him.
“It restores the original bloodline.”
Kael's face hardened.
“And removes the Ashthorne claim.”
The realization came slowly.
The throne wasn't a weapon.
It was a claim.
A living proof that the Ashthorne dynasty had taken a throne that didn't belong to them.
I looked at Kael.
“What happens to you?”
He didn't answer.
Lucian did.
“Your husband becomes an enemy of his own crown.”
Kael's jaw tightened.
“I already am.”
Lucian looked surprised.
“You don't know what you're saying.”
“I know enough.”
Kael turned toward the throne.
“My family killed Elena's mother.”
“They did.”
“They erased her bloodline.”
“They did.”
“They lied to the entire empire.”
“Yes.”
Kael's hand tightened around his sword.
“Then perhaps they deserve to lose.”
Lucian studied him carefully.
“Be careful, Kael.”
“Why?”
“Because the throne doesn't care whether you're good.”
Lucian looked at the black stone.
“It only cares whether you're willing.”
A distant sound echoed through the chamber.
Metal striking stone.
Once.
Then again.
Kael turned immediately.
“Someone followed us.”
Lucian nodded.
“The Silver Court.”
“No.”
Kael listened.
The footsteps were too heavy.
Too organized.
A military formation was moving through the tunnels.
Lucian's expression changed.
“The royal guard.”
Kael drew his sword.
“Raithe.”
The first soldiers emerged from the darkness.
Dozens of them.
Their armor bore the Ashthorne crest.
Commander Raithe walked at the front.
He stopped when he saw Kael.
“Your Majesty.”
Kael raised his sword.
“Lower your weapons.”
Raithe smiled.
“I can't do that.”
“That's an order.”
“No.”
The commander looked at me.
“I'm afraid the council has issued a different order.”
Lucian moved in front of me.
Raithe laughed.
“So the dead prince finally returns.”
Lucian's eyes narrowed.
“Still serving men who won't remember your name?”
“I'm serving the empire.”
“You're serving fear.”
Raithe raised his hand.
The soldiers aimed their weapons.
Kael stepped beside me.
“Raithe.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“You're committing treason.”
Raithe smiled.
“No.”
He looked toward the throne.
“I'm preventing it.”
The soldiers advanced.
Kael attacked first.
His sword collided with Raithe's weapon, sending sparks across the chamber.
Lucian moved in the opposite direction, intercepting three soldiers at once.
I stepped backward.
The throne was behind me.
The silver roots began moving.
My palm burned.
“Elena!”
Kael shouted my name.
I turned.
Raithe had broken through Kael's defense.
His sword was raised.
He was coming straight for me.
I lifted my hand without thinking.
The silver mark flashed.
Every weapon in the chamber stopped.
The soldiers froze.
Raithe froze.
Kael stared at me.
The throne behind me began glowing.
Silver light spread across the floor, passing beneath every person's feet.
Then a voice filled the chamber.
Not from the throne.
From inside me.
“Blood of the first crown.”
The soldiers dropped to their knees.
Raithe's face went pale.
Kael remained standing.
The voice continued.
“Name your will.”
I stared at the throne.
My heart was pounding.
I didn't know what to say.
Then I remembered my mother's face.
Her final warning.
The lies.
The years stolen from me.
I looked at Kael.
Then at Lucian.
Finally, I looked at the throne.
“I want the truth.”
The chamber shook.
The silver roots wrapped around the throne.
And somewhere far above us, every bell in the capital began ringing at once.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD