CHAPTER 9
791 Words
The Truth Between Them
For several seconds, no one moved.
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
Aurelia stared at Kael, waiting for him to deny it.
He didn't.
That silence hurt more than any answer could have.
“So it’s true,” she said quietly.
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“Aurelia—”
“Don't.” She stepped back. “Don't say my name like that.”
Rowan watched them without interfering.
Aurelia looked at the silver insignia in Rowan’s hand, then back at Kael.
“You knew.”
“I knew my family was involved in the fall of Seraphine’s kingdom.”
Her stomach dropped.
“How much?”
Kael hesitated.
“That isn't an answer.”
“I don't know everything.”
“But you knew enough to keep it from me.”
His silver eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily between them.
Aurelia clenched her fists.
All the moments she had shared with him rushed through her mind—the ceremony, the attack, the journey through the forest, the way he had looked at her when the Moonstone spoke.
She had started believing that, whatever else he was hiding, he wouldn't lie to her.
She had been wrong.
“You let me believe you were just another victim of this bond.”
“I am.”
“Are you?”
Kael's expression hardened, but something in his eyes changed.
Pain.
“Aurelia, I never asked for this.”
“Neither did I.”
The silver thread between them shimmered faintly in the darkness.
She hated that it was still there.
Hated that the Moon had tied her to someone she could no longer trust.
Rowan finally spoke.
“You deserve the truth.”
Kael turned sharply toward him.
“Not from you.”
“Then tell her.”
Silence.
Aurelia looked at Kael.
“Tell me.”
Kael lowered his gaze for a moment.
“My family believed Seraphine possessed something that could destroy the Seven Realms.”
“The ancient power.”
He nodded.
“They went to take it.”
Aurelia's voice trembled. “And?”
Kael looked toward the distant mountains.
“They never came back.”
Rowan's expression darkened.
“They did.”
Kael looked at him.
“Some of them did.”
Aurelia felt a chill crawl over her skin.
“What happened?”
Rowan's answer was quiet.
“They killed the queen.”
Aurelia looked at Kael.
“And you?”
Kael didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “I was there.”
Her heart seemed to stop.
“You were there?”
“I was young.”
“How young?”
“Too young to understand what my family had done.”
Aurelia swallowed hard.
“But old enough to remember.”
Kael's eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
The forest suddenly felt colder.
Aurelia wanted to walk away.
She wanted to demand every answer he had.
Instead, she asked the question that frightened her most.
“Did you know who I was when we met?”
Kael's expression changed.
“No.”
“Did you know about my mother?”
“No.”
“Then why did you look at me like you recognized something?”
He said nothing.
Aurelia's heart sank.
Kael reached into his coat and pulled out a small, worn piece of silver.
Her breath caught.
It was the same crescent symbol as her mother's pendant.
“I found this in the ruins years ago,” he said.
Aurelia stared at it.
“You've been there.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't know what it meant.”
Rowan stepped forward.
“Now you do.”
Before Kael could answer, the silver thread between Aurelia and Kael suddenly flared.
The ground beneath them trembled.
Everyone froze.
A low sound rolled through the forest.
Not thunder.
Something deeper.
Older.
The trees began to shake.
Aurelia's pendant burned against her chest.
Then the voice returned.
The same voice that had spoken beneath the Moon Palace.
“The heir has awakened.”
Aurelia's blood ran cold.
The silver thread stretched toward the mountains.
Kael looked at it.
His face went pale.
“What?” Aurelia asked.
He stared into the darkness.
“That direction…”
His voice dropped.
“That's where Seraphine's palace stood.”
The ground shook again.
Far beyond the trees, something answered.
A deep, distant roar.
Rowan slowly drew his sword.
“The ruins have awakened.”
Aurelia looked at Kael.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
And that frightened her more than anything else.
Because whatever waited in Seraphine's ruined kingdom wasn't simply waiting for her.
It was waiting for both of them.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD