Luna No More

Chapter 16

The King's Betrayal



Silence consumed the tomb.

A crushing.

Suffocating.

Terrible silence.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

The accusation hung in the air like a blade poised above a throat.

Queen Elara wasn't murdered by her enemies.

She was betrayed by someone she loved.

Isabella's heart pounded violently.

Not because of Malakar's words.

Because of everyone's reaction.

Lucian.

Seraphina.

General Lyra.

The warriors.

None of them looked surprised.

Horrified.

Angry.

Ashamed.

But not surprised.

And that realization frightened her more than the accusation itself.

Slowly, she turned toward Lucian.

The king stood motionless.

His golden eyes locked on Malakar.

His expression unreadable.

Yet something beneath the surface had cracked.

For the first time since meeting him, he looked vulnerable.

Not weak.

Never weak.

But wounded.

Deeply wounded.

"Lucian."

Her voice echoed softly through the chamber.

Nothing.

"Lucian."

This time his eyes shifted toward her.

The look she found there made her stomach twist.

Guilt.

Ancient.

Endless.

Guilt.

No.

No.

There had to be another explanation.

There had to be.

Because the alternative was impossible.

Wasn't it?

Malakar laughed.

A slow.

Cruel laugh.

The kind of laugh that came from someone enjoying another person's pain.

"Look at him."

The hunter spread his arms dramatically.

"The mighty king."

Lucian's expression hardened instantly.

The vulnerability disappeared.

Replaced by ice.

Pure ice.

"Be careful, Malakar."

The warning rolled through the chamber.

Dangerous.

Deadly.

Several Blood Hunters visibly flinched.

Not their leader.

Malakar only smiled wider.

"Why?"

His crimson eyes gleamed.

"Afraid she'll learn the truth?"

The atmosphere changed.

Darkened.

Even the tomb itself seemed to react.

Ancient symbols along the walls flickered.

Power stirred beneath the stone.

Isabella could feel it.

The tomb was listening.

Watching.

Waiting.

Just like everyone else.

Malakar turned toward her.

"You deserve answers, Queen."

She hated that title when it came from him.

Every syllable sounded like mockery.

"Then give them."

The response surprised everyone.

Including herself.

Malakar blinked.

Then laughed again.

"Good."

His smile sharpened.

"You're stronger than she was."

Something dangerous flashed across Lucian's face.

Very dangerous.

"Enough."

The single word shook the chamber.

Several torches extinguished instantly.

Shadow energy gathered around him.

Alive.

Hungry.

Lethal.

The Blood Hunters instinctively stepped back.

All except Malakar.

"Or what?"

The challenge echoed.

Foolish.

Suicidal.

And yet somehow confident.

As though Malakar knew something.

Something important.

Something that protected him.

Lucian took one step forward.

The mountain trembled.

One step.

That's all it took.

Power exploded through the chamber.

Ancient power.

Terrifying power.

The kind of power kings built legends around.

The Blood Hunters immediately raised their weapons.

Too late.

Far too late.

Isabella finally understood.

If Lucian truly wanted these people dead...

None of them would survive the next thirty seconds.

Including their leader.

Yet he didn't attack.

Which meant something else was happening.

Something bigger.

Malakar knew it too.

His smile never wavered.

"See?"

The hunter looked directly at Isabella.

"He can't kill me."

The statement stunned the room.

Even General Lyra looked surprised.

Lucian's silence was answer enough.

A terrible answer.

A terrifying answer.

Malakar pointed toward Queen Elara's crystal coffin.

"Ask him."

The hunter's voice softened.

Almost gentle.

Which somehow made it worse.

"Ask him what happened the night she died."

The chamber fell silent once more.

Every eye shifted toward Lucian.

The king closed his eyes briefly.

As though preparing himself.

For battle.

For execution.

For something.

When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"I was supposed to protect her."

The words landed heavily.

Painfully.

Nobody interrupted.

Nobody moved.

The story had begun.

And everyone knew it.

"Seven hundred years ago," Lucian continued, "the kingdoms were already falling."

His gaze remained fixed on Elara's coffin.

Not on Isabella.

Not on anyone.

Only Elara.

"The attacks had become constant."

The tomb seemed to grow quieter.

Even the Blood Hunters listened.

"Every week another city burned."

A pause.

"Every month another ally disappeared."

Isabella could hear the grief in his voice.

The memories were still alive.

Still bleeding.

Still hurting.

After seven centuries.

"I begged her to leave."

Lucian laughed softly.

A bitter sound.

"She refused."

A faint smile appeared.

Sad.

Broken.

Beautiful.

"She said a queen doesn't abandon her people."

The smile vanished.

"She stayed."

Silence.

Then Seraphina spoke for the first time.

"Elara believed she could save everyone."

The older woman's voice trembled.

"We all did."

Malakar rolled his eyes.

"How inspiring."

No one acknowledged him.

Lucian continued.

"The night the capital fell..."

His jaw tightened.

"The palace was already surrounded."

Images flashed through Isabella's mind.

Fire.

Smoke.

Blood.

The same fragments she had seen before.

Only clearer now.

Much clearer.

"There were too many enemies."

Lucian's voice grew colder.

"Thousands."

A pause.

"I ordered her to escape."

Isabella frowned.

Ordered?

That sounded important.

Lucian noticed.

For a moment, something like shame crossed his face.

"She was my queen."

The words echoed strangely.

Not romantic.

Not political.

Something older.

Sacred.

Devoted.

The distinction mattered.

Though Isabella couldn't explain why.

"I thought I could hold the city long enough."

His hands clenched.

Hard.

"I was wrong."

The confession sounded painful.

As though he had repeated it to himself for centuries.

Every day.

Every night.

Every moment.

I was wrong.

Malakar smiled.

The hunter looked delighted.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

General Lyra visibly restrained herself from murdering him.

A difficult task.

One Isabella strongly supported.

Lucian ignored the interruption.

"The palace gates fell."

The memories darkened.

"The inner defenses collapsed."

His voice lowered.

"And someone betrayed us."

A chill swept through the chamber.

There it was.

The betrayal.

The same theme haunting Isabella's life.

Again.

Always betrayal.

"One of our generals opened the eastern entrance."

Gasps spread among the warriors.

Even now the revelation hurt.

Seven hundred years later.

"The enemy reached the throne room."

Lucian stared at Elara's coffin.

His eyes filled with something terrible.

Something devastating.

"I wasn't there."

The words shattered.

Completely shattered.

As though speaking them still broke him.

Every single time.

Isabella's heart squeezed painfully.

Because suddenly she understood.

This wasn't about betrayal.

Not entirely.

This was about failure.

The kind of failure that never stopped hurting.

The kind that followed someone forever.

Malakar clapped slowly.

Mockingly.

"Excellent."

Nobody looked at him.

Nobody cared.

The story had become bigger than him.

Bigger than everyone.

Lucian continued.

"When I reached the throne room..."

His voice cracked.

Only slightly.

Yet everyone heard it.

Everyone.

"The battle was over."

Silence.

The kind of silence that hurts.

"I found her dying."

The words hit Isabella harder than expected.

A strange pain spread through her chest.

Sharp.

Unwelcome.

Deep.

As though some distant memory recognized the moment.

Recognized the loss.

Lucian lowered his head.

"I was too late."

No one spoke.

What could they say?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Then Malakar laughed.

And the spell broke.

"Such a beautiful lie."

The hunter's voice sliced through the emotion.

Through the grief.

Through the memories.

Lucian's eyes became lethal.

Malakar didn't care.

"You always leave out the best part."

Every instinct inside Isabella screamed.

Something was coming.

Something terrible.

Something capable of changing everything.

Malakar looked directly at her.

"Do you know what happened after he found her?"

The question lingered.

Dangerous.

Sharp.

Poisoned.

Lucian took a step forward.

"Stop."

The command echoed.

Power vibrated through the tomb.

Cracks spread across the stone floor.

Still Malakar smiled.

Still he continued.

"Queen Elara wasn't alone when she died."

Isabella froze.

Not alone?

The hunter's grin widened.

"There was another man."

The chamber exploded into whispers.

General Lyra went pale.

Seraphina closed her eyes.

And suddenly Isabella understood why nobody wanted this story told.

Because it wasn't just history.

It was scandal.

Tragedy.

Heartbreak.

All tangled together.

Malakar's crimson eyes gleamed.

"He died protecting her."

The silence became suffocating.

Lucian's expression transformed.

Not anger.

Not rage.

Agony.

Raw agony.

The kind impossible to fake.

Impossible to hide.

Isabella's stomach twisted.

Because she had seen heartbreak before.

Her own.

Damien's betrayal.

Sophia's lies.

Yet what she saw in Lucian now was different.

Older.

Deeper.

Far more devastating.

"He loved her."

Malakar's voice softened.

Cruelly.

"And she loved him."

The words slammed into the chamber.

Into Lucian.

Into Isabella.

Into everyone.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

Then Malakar delivered the final blow.

The blow he had been building toward from the beginning.

The blow meant to destroy everything.

Including whatever connection had begun growing between Isabella and Lucian.

"That man wasn't Lucian."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Even the tomb seemed stunned.

Isabella stared.

Her mind struggling to process the revelation.

Not Lucian.

Not the king.

Not the man who had spent seven centuries mourning her.

Then who?

Who was the man Elara loved?

Who was the man who died protecting her?

And why had Lucian spent centuries carrying guilt for a queen who apparently loved someone else?

The questions crashed through her mind.

One after another.

Relentless.

Confusing.

Terrifying.

Then she noticed something.

Lucian wasn't denying it.

Not a single word.

Not one.

And that frightened her more than anything.

Because sometimes silence revealed more than truth.