The Monster and His Queen

Chapter 37

"That's impossible."

Elaria stared at her own face wearing a cruel smile. Every feature was identical. The same green eyes with silver flecks. The same dark hair. The same shadow marks on her arms, though these pulsed with sickly green light instead of silver.

"Is it? Impossible?" The Second Seeker tilted her head in a gesture Elaria recognized as her own. "You of all people should know that impossible is just another word for things we don't understand yet."

"Who are you?" Draven demanded, his shadows rising protectively around Elaria. "What kind of trick is this?"

"No trick. No illusion. I'm as real as she is." The Second Seeker gestured to herself, then to Elaria. "We're twins. Sisters born of the same womb. Though only one of us was wanted."

Queen Lyra had never mentioned a twin. Never even hinted at another daughter.

"You're lying," Elaria said, but her voice shook. Through her void senses, she could feel the truth. This woman shared her bloodline. Her essence. They were connected in ways that went beyond magic.

"Am I? Ask yourself, sister. Why would your mother hide the existence of a twin? What would drive her to keep such a secret?" The Second Seeker moved closer to the edge of her ritual circle. "Or perhaps she didn't hide me. Perhaps she simply forgot I existed."

"Stop talking in riddles," Captain Ryver said, his hand on his sword. "State your purpose clearly."

"My purpose? Revenge. Justice. Evolution. Take your pick." The Second Seeker's smile widened. "But mostly, I want what was stolen from me. My life. My family. My place in the world."

"Nothing was stolen from you," Elaria said, finding her voice. "I don't even know who you are!"

"Exactly. You don't know I exist. But I've known about you my entire life. Watched you grow up in luxury while I survived in darkness. Watched you receive love and attention while I was abandoned to the void." The green light around the Second Seeker flared. "Do you know what it's like, sister? To be the unwanted one? The one thrown away like garbage?"

Through the bond, Elaria felt Draven's confusion matching her own. But underneath it, she felt him analyzing, strategizing, looking for weaknesses in the ritual circle.

"Even if what you're saying is true," Amariel spoke up, "that doesn't justify this. You're threatening millions of innocent lives."

"Innocent? No one is innocent. The kingdoms that threw me away. The parents who chose one child over the other. The priests who marked me as cursed and left me to die." The Second Seeker's voice turned cold. "They all deserve what's coming."

"How did you survive?" Elaria asked. She needed to keep her talking, buy time for Draven to find an opening. "If you were abandoned as an infant, how are you standing here now?"

"The void saved me. Took me in when humans cast me out. Raised me. Taught me. Made me strong." The Second Seeker gestured to the void-touched humans in the circle. "These people understand. They were all abandoned too. Marked. Feared. And together, we're going to reshape the world into one where being touched by darkness isn't a curse. It's power."

"By forcing the worlds to merge? That's insanity," Draven said.

"That's evolution. Humanity needs to stop fearing the void and embrace it. And you two are going to help me make that happen."

"We'll never help you," Elaria said firmly.

"No? Not even to save these people?" The Second Seeker gestured to the circle. The void-touched humans groaned, their bodies convulsing as more energy was drained. "They're dying, sister. Every moment that passes, I take more of their life force. In two hours, they'll all be dead. Unless you cooperate."

"What do you want?" Draven asked through gritted teeth.

"Simple. Add your power to mine. With your bond, with your unique connection to both void and human worlds, we can open the gates permanently but safely. No chaos. No destruction. Just merging." The Second Seeker's eyes gleamed. "You'd be heroes. Saviors of a new age."

"We'd be accomplices to g******e," Amariel said. "The merging would still kill billions. Humans can't survive prolonged exposure to pure void energy."

"Then they'll adapt. Or they won't. Either way, the strong survive." The Second Seeker shrugged. "Nature's way."

"That's not nature. That's murder," Elaria said.

"Call it what you want. My offer stands. Join me willingly, and everyone in this circle lives. Refuse, and watch them die. Then I complete the ritual anyway, using their deaths as the final power surge." The Second Seeker smiled. "Either way, I win. But this way, you get to feel like you saved someone."

Through the bond, Draven sent a message. His analysis was complete. The ritual circle had a weakness. If they could disrupt the power flow at three specific points simultaneously, the whole thing would collapse.

But they'd need to get inside the circle first. And the moment they entered, the Second Seeker would know.

"Can I at least ask one question?" Elaria said, buying more time. "Before we make our decision."

"How generous of me. One question."

"Why now? If you've been alive all these years, why wait until now to reveal yourself? Why not come forward sooner?"

The Second Seeker's expression flickered. For just a moment, something raw and painful showed through. "Because I thought I could let it go. I built a life in the void. Found purpose. Became powerful. I thought I'd moved past needing family or acceptance."

"What changed?" Elaria asked softly.

"You married him." The Second Seeker looked at Draven with undisguised hatred. "The void-born prince. The perfect match for a priestess daughter. Everyone celebrating. Kingdoms uniting. And I realized that could have been me. Should have been me. If I'd been the one kept instead of thrown away."

"So this is about jealousy," Draven said. "You're destroying the world because you're jealous."

"This is about justice! About showing everyone that the unwanted daughter is just as powerful. More powerful!" The Second Seeker's control slipped. Shadows exploded around her, wild and violent. "I am not less than her! I am not the mistake! I am not the one who should have died!"

The void-touched humans in the circle screamed as the power surge tore through them. Three collapsed, unconscious or dead.

"Enough talking," the Second Seeker said, her composure returning. "You have sixty seconds to decide. Join me, or watch them all die."