BAITING THE SERPENT
836 Words
CHAPTER 15
The clock struck midnight as the storm gathered over Elvaria.
Lightning sliced the skies in thin, furious flashes, throwing eerie shadows across the western wing of the palace — the long-abandoned halls where treason now slithered. In the depths of those stone passages, where dust clung to secrets and time itself felt suspended, Lord Marrowyn returned to his secret chamber.
Unaware that his queen already knew.
---
The Trap Begins
High above the west wing, Arabelle waited in the rafters of an unused observation tower. Dressed in dark leather armor, her crown left behind, she watched the flickering torchlight below as Marrowyn descended.
Beside her, Darius checked the blade at his hip. Mira crouched beside a spy slit, fingers already laced around throwing knives.
“You really want to be here for this?” Darius asked quietly.
Arabelle didn’t look away. “He helped kill my mother with whispers. Poisoned Elvaria from the inside. I won’t let him do the same to me.”
“And if he’s not alone?”
She smirked. “Then we catch more snakes in one cage.”
---
Belowground
Marrowyn lit the sconces around the chamber slowly. Each flame unveiled more evidence — sealed scrolls, coded messages, half-burned maps of Elvaria’s watch towers. He moved like a man confident in his immunity. Untouchable. Careful. Silent.
Until a deep, distorted voice crackled from the enchanted mirror on the wall.
“Is the girl under control?”
It was Serentine dialect. Cold, precise, familiar to Arabelle — she’d heard it whispered by ambassadors in her childhood. Now, it stung with venom.
“She is cleverer than expected,” Marrowyn said. “But reckless. A trait she shares with her mother.”
“Do not make the same mistake we made with the Queen before her,” the voice growled. “End her if you must. Elvaria must fall before winter.”
“She’s popular,” Marrowyn replied. “If she dies suddenly, the nobles may turn on us before we move.”
The mirror pulsed red.
“Then weaken her. Discredit her. Break her spirit. Your failure will not be tolerated.”
Then — silence.
---
The Queen Strikes
Before Marrowyn could turn, Mira dropped from the ceiling like a shadow, a knife pressed to his throat before he could speak. “You should’ve burned your tracks better, traitor.”
He snarled, reaching for the hidden blade beneath his sleeve — only to be slammed against the stone wall by Darius, who emerged from the shadows.
And then, she stepped forward.
Queen Arabelle.
Dressed not in royal silk, but in storm-colored leather. No crown. No title in her voice.
Just fire.
“Do you know what I hate most about traitors, Marrowyn?” she asked as she approached. “Not their lies. Not even the betrayal. But the arrogance.”
Marrowyn gasped as Mira twisted the blade just enough to bite skin.
“I underestimated you,” he hissed. “You were nothing but a spoiled child—”
Arabelle struck him, hard and clean across the face.
“You helped assassinate my mother,” she said coldly. “You fed Serentine plans, maps, everything. You were supposed to protect Elvaria — and you sold us to the wolves.”
Marrowyn laughed bitterly. “You don’t understand how the world works, girl. Kingdoms rise and fall. The wise choose to be on the right side before the collapse.”
She leaned in close.
“I am the collapse.”
She nodded once, and Darius knocked him unconscious.
---
The Council Awakens
By morning, the Council of Lords had assembled in emergency session. Whispers raced faster than the storm clouds outside. Marrowyn sat shackled before them, his crimes laid bare in documents, confessions, and witness reports.
The mirror — now sealed in a magic ward — flickered silently at the edge of the chamber.
Arabelle stood before them, fierce and composed.
“There will be no execution,” she announced.
Gasps.
“He will live — in the prison he built for others. Let him hear Elvaria rise while he rots. Let every traitor watching know we do not bury our enemies quietly. We expose them. We outlast them.”
Silence.
Then slowly — applause. Hesitant. Then firm.
Darius stepped closer, whispering, “Bold move.”
“I want them afraid,” she murmured. “But I also want them loyal.”
---
Across the Sea…
In the glittering throne room of Serentine, a cloaked advisor knelt before a veiled empress.
“She has proven… troublesome,” he said carefully.
The Empress’s voice was silk dipped in ice.
“Then we try something else. Send word to our asset in the north. Tell him it is time to awaken Phase Two.”
A pause.
“And… extend an invitation to the Queen of Elvaria.”
“An invitation?” the advisor asked.
“Yes,” she said with a cruel smile. “To the Serentine Peace Summit.”
To be continued....
- Writer
