Chapter 5: The Throne Wants Her
936 Words
I ran like prey. Cold air scraped my lungs as I stumbled into the hidden passage behind the shifting wall. The moment I crossed the threshold, stone groaned behind me then boom.!!!! The entrance sealed. Complete darkness swallowed everything. My breath caught. For one terrible second, I thought the passage had buried me alive. I spun.
My hands hit solid stone with no opening or c***k. The throne room, the king, the creature. They were all gone. Only silence remained.
My heartbeat thundered louder. Move. The word came instinctively. Standing still underground felt dangerous. I pressed a trembling hand against the wall and forced myself forward.
The passage narrowed quickly. Cold moisture clung to stone. Water dripped somewhere distant. The air smelled old like it was contained, as if this place existed beneath breathing things. My boots echoed too loudly. I hated that. Noise invited attention and after seeing what lived below the palace, attention felt lethal.
My mind replayed everything against my will.
*You have your mother’s eyes.*
*I did not order it.*
*The throne wants her.*
My stomach twisted violently.
The creature knew me. No…Not me..Something about me. The distinction mattered. I hoped.
Another memory surfaced abruptly: The king standing between me and death. Again..The realization irritated me immediately. I didn’t need protection. Especially not from him. Kings saved people when useful. Nothing more.
Yet…His expression before I fled. That wasn't a calculation. It looked too much like fear. The thought unsettled me. I buried it..The corridor curved sharply then widened. My steps slowed.
Ahead, I saw a faint blue light. I froze instantly. Someone else was here. The sensible choice was: Turn back. Except back contained monsters and kings..Forward won barely..I moved quietly. One hand against damp stone..The passage opened into a circular chamber..I stopped breathing..The room was enormous..Far larger than possible beneath a palace.
Blue flames floated within iron bowls lining walls covered in ancient carvings and writing. Thousands of symbols..Some familiar and most impossible.My pulse skipped. I saw the older and forbidden temple.I stepped closer instinctively..Years buried in archives had trained my eyes.
Languages fascinated me before revenge consumed everything. I read fragments automatically:.blood remembers. throne chooses , first daughters carry..The final words stopped me. First daughters.
The cold spread slowly beneath my ribs . No that should be a coincidence. Ancient texts loved vague warnings. I looked away immediately. At the room’s center sat a pool of perfectly black water. Everything underground seemed wrong then a voice echoed softly behind me.
“You shouldn’t read those.”
I spun. Fast enough to stumble. Someone stood near the opposite entrance.It was a girl.
No, a woman..Perhaps my age with dark curls and plain servant clothes..Also a lantern in one hand..She stared at me with wide eyes.
She was human atleast.Relief arrived embarrassingly hard..Until I noticed blood on her sleeve. My body tightened again..The stranger blinked first then frowned.
“You’re not from below.”
The sentence confused me instantly..Below?.I recovered.
“You work here?”
Her expression changed then vanished beneath a soft smile.
“Yes.”
That was a lie..I knew it immediately because of instinct. She stepped closer. The lantern illuminated her face fully. She looked pretty and ordinary. Except ordinary people rarely existed beneath cursed palaces.
The woman studied me..Then her eyes widened slightly in recognition. Fear followed..Unexpectedly she whispered: “…Oh.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
She was silent then her gaze moved over me differently now. Like she was assessing me..The kind people use after realizing something important..The woman swallowed then lowered her head abruptly, respectfully. Alarm crawled up my spine.
“You should leave,” she said quickly.
The softness disappeared from her voice..Urgency replaced it. I frowned
“I was trying.”
“No.”
Her eyes lifted. The fear was visible now.
“I mean the palace.You shouldn’t be here at all.”
The blue flames flickered. The woman noticed instantly because color drained from her face..Her head turned toward the black pool slowly. My pulse stumbled. The water moved once.like something beneath touched the surface..Every muscle locked..The woman backed away immediately.
She took a small step then another.Her voice dropped sharply and terrified.
“Don’t speak.”
Fear spread through me without understanding.
“What”
“Quiet.”
The command cracked..The black water rippled again..Wider this time.
There was no wind or disturbance, yet circles spread outward slowly and deliberately..The chamber cooled instantly..My breath fogged..Impossible..The woman looked seconds from panic..I stared between her and the pool..Questions crowded violently.
Who was she?.What was below?.Why fear water?
Then a human hand emerged. Pale fingers broke the black surface..My heartbeat stopped..Another hand followed..Then the top of a head..Long silver hair dripping dark water..A woman rose slowly from the center of the pool, floating.
Every instinct screamed..Run. Yet I remained frozen because the face lifting toward us, the face beneath wet silver strands looked familiar..The woman beside me made a choking sound..Her whisper barely existed:
“…No.”
The figure opened her eyes.
It was gold, unnatural and ancient. Then those eyes fixed directly. on me..The silver-haired woman smiled softly like greeting someone expected and said: Your mother took longer to come back. Everything inside me shattered..My mother was dead, burned and gone..The room tilted violently..I stumbled backward.
“No.”
The word escaped instantly..Broken..The woman in the pool watched calmly. Almost kindly which frightened me more..Her head tilted..Interest flickered..Then.she spoke again.
The sentence is soft enough to destroy worlds: You really don’t remember, Nyra?”
The blue flames extinguished all at once. Darkness swallowed the chamber and something beneath the water laughed.
- Writer
