The Empty Throne
1003 Words
Cassian’s POV
"Clear the floor!" Noah’s voice boomed over the clinic’s intercom system, his tone dripping with a lethal, alpha authority that turned the air icy.
"Every civilian, every staff, out! If you are still in this building in sixty seconds, you will be considered an enemy and you will not survive."
Panic erupted. The sound of fleeing footsteps and shattering glass filled the hallways as people scrambled to obey. I didn't care. I moved like a blur, scenting the air for Aria. My knuckles were already stained dark with the blood of Julian’s men who dared to block my path.
I reached the surgical wing first, kicking the heavy steel doors off their hinges. I expected to see Aria strapped to a table, her skin glowing with that void-touched black. Instead, the room was empty.
The bed was stripped. There was nothing here but a lingering, sickly scent of lavender and a discarded, empty vial of violet liquid rolling across the floor.
Noah stormed in behind me, his eyes glowing a violent, molten gold. He scanned the room, his chest heaving.
"Where is she, Cassian? You swore you heard them!"
"She was here," I growled, feeling a surge of red-hot frustration. I slammed my fist into the wall, cracking the drywall. "They knew we were coming. We were played."
"Played?" Noah snarled, stepping into my space. His hand shot out, grabbing my leather jacket and shoving me back. "You let a traitor walk right out of our estate! Because you were too arrogant to confirm his destination, my mate is gone, and our pack is currently being dismantled by the Council! Look at this place! We destroyed a hospital for a ghost!"
"I didn't lie, Noah!" I roared, shoving him back. "I heard him! Maybe your intelligence is as thin as your patience. And correction, she's not your mate."
The air between us hummed with the static of two Alphas on the brink of shifting. Then, Noah’s phone buzzed, the sound intruding on the silence of the room. He snatched it up, his expression hardening as he listened to the voice on the other end.
"A hangar," Noah whispered, his eyes meeting mine. "Abandoned, on the edge of the industrial sector. They spotted the transport."
We didn't say another word. We left the c*****e behind and moved as one.
The drive was a blur of high-speed maneuvers and broken traffic laws. When we stopped to a halt in front of the hangar, the structure looked like a tomb against the night sky. It was silent. Too silent.
We breached the hangar doors, expecting a fight. Instead, we found a graveyard.
Julian’s elite guards were scattered across the concrete floor. They hadn't just been killed; their bodies had been separated from each joint.
Dr. Aris lay near the center of the floor, his designer glasses crushed beneath a heavy support beam, his body broken like a discarded doll.
And in the center of the c*****e, standing amidst the blood, was Aria.
She didn't look like the girl from the gala. Her eyes were pools of absolute, ink-black darkness, and the shadows in the room seemed to bend toward her, pulsing like a living heart. She stood perfectly still, her hair wild, her expression devoid of any warmth.
Noah took a step forward. "Aria? It's us. It's Noah."
She tilted her head, her movements jerky and inhuman. She tracked us with the cold, detached gaze of a predator watching two unfamiliar people float by. She didn't recognize the name. She didn't recognize us.
She opened her mouth, and the sound that came out was a low, grinding vibration, the same thousand voices from the gala.
"Why do you smell like my blood?"
Before Noah could move, before I could even draw a breath, she turned and ran. She left us surrounded by the silence of the dead. Noah stood frozen, his hand still outstretched, reaching for a ghost.
I looked at the bodies, then at the empty space where she had stood.
*
*
*
We didn't find a single footprint.
The drive back to the estate was silent, the air in the SUV thick enough to choke on. Noah stared out the window, his jaw so tight I could hear his teeth grinding. I focused on the road, my hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel. We both stayed silent until we stepped through the front doors of our estate.
"I want scouts on every exit of the city," Noah barked as we entered the grand hall, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "I want eyes on the Highwood borders. If a shadow moves without my permission, I want it dead."
A young maid, her face the color of ash, stepped into our path. She was holding a cordless landline phone as if it were a live grenade. Her hands were shaking so violently the plastic rattled.
"It’s for you," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "He said… he’s been waiting for you to get home."
Noah snatched the phone from her, his thumb hitting the speaker button with enough force to nearly break the casing.
"Julian," Noah snarled.
"Where is she?" I growled, leaning toward the phone.
"She doesn't belong to me, Cassian. And she certainly doesn't belong to you anymore," Julian chuckled, a cold, dry sound.
"She belongs to the Void now. And the first thing the Void does is feed on the ones who tried to cage it. You wanted the True Heir? Congratulations. You finally have her."
The line went dead with a sharp, final click.
Noah stared at the phone for a heartbeat before slamming it, the plastic shattering into a dozen pieces.
"Damn it, where…"
He didn't finish his sentence. Then we heard it. And before anyone knew what was happening, it turned dark.
- Writer
