Chapter 15 – Beneath the Bones
827 Words
It was said that the palace had roots.
Not in trees or stone—but in bones.
The crypts beneath Valcryn were older than the throne itself. A maze of sealed tombs, forgotten texts, and power lost to time.
Aurelia had never been this far beneath the castle.
She clutched a torch in one hand and her cloak tight with the other. Rael led the way, a blade sheathed across his back, a map half-burned in his palm.
“You sure this is the right way?” she asked.
Rael didn’t look back. “If we run into something that wants to eat us, then yes.”
“Comforting.”
The path narrowed, stone walls pressing in. Aurelia could feel the hum of magic in the air—old, quiet, and angry. Her silver-threaded bracelet tingled like it recognized something.
They stopped at a heavy iron gate sealed with runes.
“This is it,” Rael whispered.
“What’s inside?”
He looked at her. “The Thorne vault.”
---
It took both of them to break the seal.
The runes burned, then cracked, then vanished altogether in a flash of blue light.
The gate swung open with a moan, revealing a chamber lit by pale crystals embedded in the walls. Dozens of sealed tombs rested along the edges, and in the center stood an altar.
On the altar—was a book.
Bound in moon-leather.
Unmarked.
Aurelia stepped forward. The moment her hand touched the book’s cover, the room reacted.
Light surged.
The tombs hummed.
The crystals above glowed brighter.
The book opened itself to her.
The first page bled words across the parchment, written in a language she could suddenly read.
> To the Moon-blooded Daughter—if you are reading this, then you have survived what we could not.
> We were dreamers. Seers. Sacrificed to silence our truth.
> But the truth cannot bleed forever. Eventually, it learns to fight.
Rael leaned in as she turned the page.
Each entry was a confession.
Women from generations past. Carriers of the true prophecy. All erased by the Seer’s bloodline and her pact with the original Lunar Council.
> They did not fear the end. They feared the truth—that the throne was never meant to be ruled by one alone.
> It was meant to be ruled by two.
Alpha and Seer. Bonded by fate, not order.
Aurelia’s breath caught.
“She was never meant to die,” she whispered. “None of them were.”
Rael shook his head. “They were meant to lead. With their Alpha. Not beneath them. Beside them.”
They reached the final entry.
It wasn’t written in ink.
It was written in blood.
> My daughter… if you find this… your name is not Aurelia by chance. You carry the last light of the prophecy.
> Let it burn.
Aurelia stumbled back.
“My mother wrote this.”
Rael caught her elbow. “And she gave you everything they feared. A name. A bloodline. A second chance.”
Aurelia’s hands curled into fists.
“I’m not just part of this story. I am the story.”
She turned to the back of the chamber—where one tomb stood larger than the rest, draped in blue cloth and untouched by dust.
Rael drew his dagger. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
She nodded.
“We open it.”
---
Meanwhile, in the Circle Chamber, Councilor Varn received a visitor cloaked in dark green. A man with pale blond hair, sharp fangs, and eyes the color of steel.
The Seer’s “chosen alternative.”
“Alpha Malric of the Exiled Clans,” Varn greeted him, bowing slightly.
“You sent for me,” the exile said. “Are you sure your King has fallen?”
“He chose fire,” Varn replied. “We want ice.”
“And the girl?”
“Soon to be ash.”
Malric smiled, slow and cruel. “Then let’s make this quick. I didn’t come to beg for crowns. I came to take one.”
---
Back in the crypts, Rael slid the lid from the final tomb.
Inside lay a woman in ceremonial robes—face serene, hands folded.
Clutched in her grasp was a dagger.
Moon-forged.
Etched with Thorne markings.
Aurelia touched the dagger—and her vision snapped.
---
She stood in a snow-covered battlefield, surrounded by wolves and moonlight.
Kaelen stood in front of her.
So did Malric.
The throne between them burned.
And her hand…
…held the dagger.
The prophecy’s voice echoed in her mind.
> One will choose love.
One will choose the crown.
Only one will live.
---
Aurelia gasped and stumbled back, eyes wide.
Rael steadied her. “What did you see?”
“A choice,” she whispered. “A war.”
Her hands tightened on the dagger.
“And I need to be ready for both.”
---
- Writer
