Chapter 13: The Count’s Sister.
1470 Words
The dungeon beneath the castle was quieter than I expected.
Not peaceful—never peaceful—but heavy in that suffocating way only underground places could be. The stone walls trapped the cold like a stubborn memory that refused to leave, and the air carried the faint smell of damp iron and old dust. Every sound echoed more than it should have, turning even the smallest movement into something that felt louder than intended.
I leaned back against the rough wall of the cell and exhaled slowly, trying to ignore the chill creeping through my clothes.
Across the small space, Tiva was very clearly failing to do the same.
She had been moving around the cell nonstop for the past half hour, pacing in uneven circles like a caged animal that had absolutely no intention of accepting the cage. Every few steps she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, restless energy radiating off her in waves, and the faint torchlight from the corridor reflected in her bright violet eyes, which now looked more irritated than usual.
“I swear,” she muttered under her breath as she turned sharply and paced back the other way again, “if they keep us down here any longer, I’m going to lose my mind.”
Leora sat quietly on the narrow bench near the wall, her posture straight and composed as always, as if being imprisoned beneath the castle was just a slightly inconvenient part of her schedule. She didn’t even glance up when Tiva spoke, though I noticed the smallest twitch at the corner of her mouth.
“You have been here for less than an hour,” Leora said calmly.
“That’s an hour too long,” Tiva shot back immediately, throwing her hands up in dramatic frustration. She stopped near the bars for a moment and leaned against them, staring out into the dim corridor like she was considering whether bending iron was physically possible through pure annoyance alone.
I rubbed the back of my neck and let my head rest against the stone wall behind me.
“In our defense,” I said slowly, “the sign didn’t mention the dragon.”
Tiva turned her head and stared at me like I had just personally betrayed her.
“Oh, great. Fantastic. That makes everything better,” she said sarcastically, spreading her arms wide. “Sure, we broke into the forbidden zone, triggered half the magical defenses in the forest, woke up a dragon that looked like it hadn’t been disturbed in three centuries, and then got dragged back here by the castle guards—but you’re right, the real problem is that the sign was incomplete.”
I couldn’t stop the small laugh that slipped out.
Leora finally looked up then, her calm eyes shifting between the two of us. “Technically,” she said in her usual composed tone, “the sign did clearly say ‘forbidden.’”
Tiva groaned loudly and dragged both hands down her face. “You two are unbelievable.”
For a moment, silence settled over the dungeon again, broken only by the soft flicker of torchlight outside the cell and the distant sound of a guard’s armor clinking faintly somewhere farther down the corridor.
I stared at the floor for a while, thinking back to the judgment chamber earlier that night.
Magnus Valemont hadn’t raised his voice once during the entire lecture.
He didn’t need to.
Every word he spoke carried weight, the kind that pressed down on your shoulders whether you wanted it to or not. Even now I could still picture the way he stood there—perfectly still, perfectly composed—while explaining in very precise detail exactly how many laws we had managed to break in a single afternoon.
Tiva suddenly started pacing again, faster this time.
“I hate waiting,” she muttered. “If he’s going to throw us out of the castle, fine. If he’s going to assign us punishment, fine. Just decide already. Sitting in here doing nothing is torture.”
Leora folded her hands together calmly. “Patience is a virtue.”
Tiva pointed at her dramatically. “Patience is boring.”
Before Leora could respond, a sound echoed down the corridor.
Footsteps.
Not the slow, heavy kind the guards made.
These were lighter.
Confident.
Tiva froze mid-step.
Her violet eyes narrowed slightly as she tilted her head, listening carefully. “Someone’s coming.”
The footsteps grew closer, steady and unhurried, until a figure appeared in the dim light at the end of the corridor.
At first I assumed it was another guard.
But the closer the figure came, the more obvious it became that this wasn’t the case.
The woman walking toward our cell wasn’t wearing armor.
Instead, she wore a dark formal coat layered over elegant clothing, the fabric sharp and structured in a way that suggested nobility rather than practicality. A thin silver chain hung at her collar, catching the torchlight with each step she took, and her posture was relaxed—far too relaxed for someone wandering casually through the castle dungeon at night.
A set of keys dangled loosely from her hand.
Tiva leaned slightly toward the bars and whispered, “Okay… either we’re hallucinating from boredom, or that very confident stranger is about to commit a very polite prison break.”
The woman stopped directly in front of our cell.
Her gaze moved calmly from Leora… to Tiva… and finally to me.
Then she lifted the keys and unlocked the door.
The metal lock clicked.
The door swung open with a quiet creak.
None of us moved.
I stood slowly, crossing my arms slightly as I studied her. “You’re going to have to explain this.”
The woman slipped the keys back into her pocket as if unlocking prison cells in the middle of the night was a completely normal activity.
“You were imprisoned for entering the forbidden zone,” she said calmly.
Leora nodded slightly. “That is correct.”
The woman gave a small, thoughtful hum, as if confirming something in her head.
“Yes. That is what I expected.”
Tiva blinked at her. “…Expected?”
The woman finally looked directly at us.
“My name is Vespera Valemont,” she said.
Then she added, in the same calm tone,
“I am the Count’s sister.”
For a moment, none of us said anything.
Tiva slowly turned her head toward me, her violet eyes wide with disbelief.
“…We’re either incredibly lucky,” she whispered.
“Or incredibly doomed.”
We stepped out of the cell cautiously, still trying to process what had just happened. Vespera gestured for us to follow her, already turning and walking down the corridor with the quiet confidence of someone who clearly belonged here.
As we moved through the dungeon halls, the distant sound of armored footsteps suddenly approached from the opposite direction.
A guard rounded the corner—and immediately froze.
His eyes widened when he saw us outside the cell.
“What—? Who released them?!” he demanded, clearly startled.
Vespera didn’t even slow down.
“I did,” she said calmly.
The guard blinked in confusion. “But the Count said—”
“I will deal with my brother,” she interrupted smoothly, finally glancing at him with mild impatience. “You may return to your duties.”
The guard hesitated for a moment, clearly unsure whether to argue.
Then he straightened quickly. “Yes, Lady Vespera.”
And just like that, he left.
Tiva stared after him.
“…I need that level of authority,” she whispered.
Eventually we reached the outer courtyard of the castle, where the night air finally replaced the cold heaviness of the dungeon.
Vespera turned toward us then, folding her arms lightly.
“So,” she said calmly, “tell me exactly what happened in the forbidden zone.”
I explained everything—the barrier, the dragon, the strange energy inside the forest.
Vespera listened without interrupting once, her expression thoughtful.
When I finished, she nodded slightly.
“I see.”
Tiva muttered quietly under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear.
“Oh great. Another one.”
I glanced at her.
“What?”
Tiva dragged both hands down her face dramatically and then tilted her head up toward the sky like she was asking the universe for an explanation.
“So let me get this straight,” she said, exhaling slowly. “We have one person completely glued to the rules… and now we’ve met his sister, who apparently survives by eating books and studying forbidden forests.”
She raised both hands toward the stars.
“What kind of fate is this?”.
End of chapter 13.
- Writer
