Chapter Eight: The Garden of Forgotten Queens
795 Words
Chapter Eight: The Garden of Forgotten Queens
Evelyn couldn't sleep.
Not that sleep came easily in the Shadow Kingdom.
There was no sunrise to greet the morning.
No sunset to welcome the night.
Only an endless silver sky stretching over a kingdom frozen in time.
She wandered through the silent halls of the palace, her footsteps echoing against the polished obsidian floor.
The palace no longer felt unfamiliar.
Every hallway...
Every towering pillar...
Every flickering silver flame...
Somehow felt like fragments of a dream she couldn't quite remember.
She reached a balcony overlooking the kingdom.
For a long time...
She simply stood there.
The air was cool.
A gentle breeze brushed against her face.
Far below, black rivers shimmered beneath the silver sky, reflecting castles that had stood untouched for centuries.
"It's beautiful."
Nyx's voice came from behind.
"It used to be."
Evelyn turned.
"When you say that..."
She hesitated.
"...it sounds like you're remembering someone."
Nyx stepped beside her.
"I am."
"The Queens?"
A slow nod.
"They laughed here."
"They argued."
"They celebrated victories."
"They mourned their losses."
Her crimson eyes drifted across the empty kingdom.
"And then..."
"...one by one..."
"...they disappeared."
Silence settled between them.
For the first time...
Evelyn didn't ask another question.
Some grief deserved respect.
After a while, Nyx spoke again.
"Come."
"I want to show you something."
...
They walked for what felt like hours.
The palace stretched endlessly.
Massive libraries.
Abandoned throne rooms.
Grand staircases carved from black crystal.
Finally...
They stopped before a pair of silver gates.
Unlike everything else in the palace...
These gates were covered in blooming vines.
Nyx gently pushed them open.
Evelyn gasped.
Beyond the gates lay a breathtaking garden.
Thousands of flowers covered the landscape.
Silver lilies.
Midnight roses.
Crimson blossoms she'd never seen before.
Butterflies made of glowing light drifted lazily through the air.
The place felt...
Alive.
"How..."
Evelyn whispered.
"I thought nothing lived here."
Nyx smiled.
"This garden does."
She walked slowly along a stone path.
"The Shadow Queens planted every flower themselves."
Evelyn knelt beside a black rose.
Its petals felt warm beneath her fingertips.
"I've seen these before."
"You have."
"They grew around my grave."
Nyx looked at her quietly.
"They always bloom where a Queen suffers."
Evelyn's hand froze.
"My grave..."
She lowered her gaze.
"Does it still exist?"
Nyx didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
She plucked a single silver lily and handed it to Evelyn.
"What do you miss the most?"
The question caught her off guard.
She expected herself to say Kael.
Or the palace.
Or her old life.
Instead...
"I miss ordinary days."
Nyx frowned slightly.
"Ordinary?"
Evelyn laughed softly.
"I miss drinking tea with the servants."
"I miss helping children learn to shift."
"I miss walking through the marketplace without guards following me."
She smiled sadly.
"I even miss arguing with the palace cook because he always used too much salt."
For the first time...
Nyx laughed.
A quiet laugh.
Gentle.
It surprised Evelyn.
"I didn't know you could laugh."
"I rarely have a reason."
The two women continued walking through the garden.
For a brief moment...
Neither Queen nor student existed.
Only two women sharing silence.
Then...
Evelyn stopped.
At the end of the garden stood a single tree.
It was enormous.
Its silver leaves shimmered like moonlight.
"What tree is that?"
Nyx's expression became unreadable.
"The Memory Tree."
"It remembers every Queen who has worn the Shadow Crown."
Evelyn slowly approached.
The closer she came...
The faster her heart beat.
She placed one hand against the trunk.
Immediately...
The world around her disappeared.
Laughter echoed.
Women's voices.
Children running.
The palace...
Filled with life.
She saw dozens of women wearing black crowns.
Some trained with swords.
Others danced beneath silver lanterns.
One of them turned.
She smiled directly at Evelyn.
Then whispered...
"Don't forget us."
Everything vanished.
Evelyn stumbled backward.
She was breathing hard.
"I saw them."
Nyx nodded.
"They saw you too."
Tears gathered in Evelyn's eyes.
"They looked..."
"So happy."
"They were."
"What happened to them?"
Nyx looked toward the silver sky.
"A story..."
"...for another day."
Evelyn didn't press further.
She was beginning to understand.
Not every answer needed to come immediately.
Some truths...
Were meant to be discovered.
As they turned to leave...
A single silver leaf drifted from the Memory Tree.
It landed gently in Evelyn's hand.
The moment it touched her skin...
Golden light flashed across its surface.
Then...
Very slowly...
The leaf transformed.
Its silver color faded.
Becoming...
Black.
Nyx stopped walking.
She looked back at the leaf.
Then at Evelyn.
A smile touched her lips.
"The Kingdom remembers you."
Evelyn stared at the black leaf resting in her palm.
She didn't understand its meaning.
But somehow...
Deep inside...
It felt like home.
- Writer
