Chapter 17
823 Words
The rain didn't just drum; it hammered, a relentless, rhythmic assault on the glass that mirrored the erosion of Seraphina's soul.
Inside the Queen's Solar, the fire was a pathetic, flickering thing, struggling against the damp chill that seemed to seep from the very stones of the castle.
Seraphina sat before a mountain of parchment.
Petitions.
Pleas.
Lies wrapped in flowery language from nobles who would sell their mothers for a sliver of royal favor.
She didn't read them. She stared at the ink, watching it blur.
The doors burst open. No knock.
No announcement.
King Lodrick.
He didn't apologize.
He didn't greet her.
He walked to the sideboard, the heavy crystal decanter clinking as he poured himself wine with a casual entitlement that made her stomach turn.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was flat, stripped of the warmth it might once have held twenty-seven years ago.
Lodrick took a long, slow sip, ignoring the question until the wine coated his throat.
"You heard about Lyanna."Seraphina finally looked up.
Her eyes were cold, hard stones.
"The whole castle is whispering about Lyanna
. The guards, the scullery maids, the f*****g dogs in the kennels.
Yes, I heard."The King snorted, a vile, dismissive sound.
"She's being dramatic.""She's being dangerous."
Seraphina leaned back, the leather of her chair creaking in the silence.
"Your daughter is spiraling. She's obsessed. She's reckless. She's becoming a threat to herself and this kingdom."
"Our daughter," Lodrick corrected, though the word tasted like ash in his mouth
. He waved a hand, dismissing her concern like a fly.
"She'll get over it. It's a phase. A tantrum.""No." The word snapped like a whip. "
She won't. And you are a fool if you think ignoring it will make it disappear."
Lodrick's eyes narrowed, a flash of genuine irritation breaking through his mask of indifference.
"You worry too much, Seraphina. It's unbecoming.""And you don't worry at all. It's criminal."
Thunder cracked overhead, shaking the windows. For a moment, the only sound was the fire dying down.
Seraphina looked at the man sitting across from her. She saw the gray in his beard, the lines of greed etched around his mouth, the emptiness in his eyes.
She remembered the young man she had married, the one she thought she could mold, the one she believed had a kernel of goodness buried deep down.She had been wrong.
There was nothing there to save."You need to speak to her," Seraphina said, her voice low, dangerous. "As a father. As a King."Lodrick laughed.
It was a dark, hollow sound. "Speak to her? About what? Her little romances? Her fantasies?""About her obsession. About the fact that she is ready to burn this kingdom down to satisfy a whim."
"That's your job, Queen." Lodrick drained his goblet and slammed it onto the table. "You deal with the children. I deal with the kingdom.""
The kingdom is because of the children, Lodrick! Or have you forgotten that your bloodline is the only thing keeping your throne from being seized by the first warlord who sees weakness?
"Lodrick stood up, towering over the table. "I have no time for your hysterics." He turned toward the door, adjusting his cuffs
.Seraphina felt a surge of nausea. She knew where he was going.
She knew exactly who would be waiting in the shadows of the corridor. Slaves. Servants.
Women who had no voice, no choice, no power to say no to the King
."Where are you going?" she asked, though she already knew.Lodrick paused at the door.
He didn't turn around. He didn't need to. The smirk was audible in his voice. "Don't wait up, Seraphina. I won't be returning tonight."
The door clicked shut.Silence rushed back into the room, heavier than before.
Seraphina sat alone in the dim light. The fire was nearly out.
The rain continued its relentless pounding.
She looked at the empty goblet, then at the door her husband had just walked through
.He wouldn't be thinking about Lyanna. He wouldn't be thinking about the kingdom.
He would be thinking about the warmth of a body that couldn't refuse him, the thrill of power over someone who couldn't fight back.
And Lyanna... her daughter was out there somewhere, chasing a different kind of poison, obsessed with something she couldn't have, ready to destroy everything in her path.
Aldric wanted to save the world.
Lyanna wanted to possess it.
Lodrick wanted to f**k it.
And Seraphina?Seraphina wanted to survive them all.
She picked up the next letter. Her hand didn't shake.
She wouldn't give them the satisfaction. Not her husband.
Not her daughter. Not the crumbling world they were all so eager to destroy.
She would sit here.
She would wait.
And when the storm finally broke, as it inevitably would, she would be the one left standing in the ruins.
Because that was what queens did. They survived. Even when there was nothing left to save.
- Writer
