Chapter 3: Veils of Deception
1455 Words
Lucien Blackthorn’s POV
“I warned you what would happen if you played both sides, Elysia.”
She smirked behind her goblet, lounging like a queen across the black marble throne that once belonged to my father.
“And yet here you are, tail between your legs, begging for scraps of truth.”
“I don’t beg,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You should. After all, you’re the one with the curse ripping you apart and a Council ready to burn you at the stake.” She leaned forward, eyes gleaming silver. “Do you even know what you’re protecting anymore?”
“I know who I saw,” I growled. “She’s alive. And I’ll find out why you helped erase her.”
Elysia’s smile faltered for the first time. A c***k in the mask.
“Your sister is a snake,” I added. “And Kieran? He’s been feeding you both lies.”
She stood slowly, her long coat brushing the cold stone floor.
“Careful, Lucien. Truths have consequences. Some doors, once opened, refuse to close.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And some women were never meant to return.”
“Why?” I stepped forward. “Why was she erased?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Because her memory could ruin everything. Your claim. Her bloodline. The prophecy.”
I froze.
“You know nothing about the prophecy,” I said.
“Oh, but I do,” she purred. “Why do you think Sable made the pact? Why do you think Aria was stripped of her mark?”
My jaw clenched. “Because she was the heir.”
“She was the apocalypse.”
I didn’t breathe.
Elysia stepped closer, so close her perfume—jasmine and nightshade—coiled around me like smoke. “Her existence threatens more than your throne. She carries something older than either of us. Something that belongs to the gods.”
I stared at her. “You’re lying.”
Her smile returned. “Then go ask the Moon Temple yourself.”
And just like that, she turned and vanished into the shadows.
---
Aria Vale’s POV
The old pack headquarters stood in ruins, half-swallowed by ivy and silence.
I stepped over a collapsed beam, the floor beneath me groaning like it remembered the weight of battles. The stone carvings on the wall—the ones etched with the crest of the Vale bloodline—were cracked down the middle, like everything else in this place.
“This used to be ours,” I whispered.
Talon didn’t answer. He stood near the entrance, watchful as ever.
“I trained here,” I said. “There was a sparring ring behind the hall.”
He nodded. “Sable turned it into a prison.”
I swallowed hard. “Of course she did.”
I reached a broken bench, running my fingers along its weathered edge. Images flashed—sparring with warriors, laughter echoing off the walls, my father’s voice booming with pride.
“I miss them,” I murmured.
Talon shifted beside me. “They miss you too.”
“If they knew what I was now... how empty I feel…”
“They’d still follow you.”
I glanced at him. “Even without my powers?”
“You’re still Aria Vale.”
I wasn’t sure about that anymore.
Suddenly, something buzzed in his comm-link. Talon pressed it to his ear, then cursed softly.
“What?” I asked.
“Lucien’s been spotted near the Capitol Sector.”
I tensed. “Alone?”
“Confronting Elysia.”
“I’m going.”
“Aria—”
“I said I’m going.”
---
I found him on the rooftop of a shattered government building, framed by the neon skyline. He didn’t turn when I landed behind him, my boots crunching broken glass.
“You don’t listen very well,” he muttered.
“I could say the same.”
Lucien turned to face me. His eyes were tired, like something inside him had just unraveled.
“She said you were the apocalypse,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Elysia. She claims you’re the reason everything’s falling apart.”
I folded my arms. “That’s rich coming from the woman who orchestrated a coup.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Try starting with me.”
He stepped closer. “Then tell me the truth. What do you remember?”
“Not enough,” I said. “But I know you. Not your title. Not your power. You.”
His expression tightened. “And yet you still left.”
“I didn’t leave,” I snapped. “I was forced out. They wiped me, Lucien. They ripped pieces of me apart and buried them in blood rituals.”
Silence stretched between us.
“You should have come for me,” I whispered.
“I did.”
I stared.
“I searched every corner of this city,” he said. “I killed men for whispers of your name.”
My throat burned. “Why?”
“Because I couldn’t breathe without you.”
The words hit me like a storm. I took a shaky step toward him. He met me halfway.
“I hate how much I still want you,” I murmured.
His hand brushed my jaw. “Then don’t hate it.”
Our foreheads touched. I felt his pulse through his fingertips.
“I don’t know who I am anymore,” I whispered.
“You’re mine,” he said softly. “That hasn’t changed.”
His lips grazed mine—hesitant, electric. I gasped at the heat of it, the hunger just beneath the surface. But before I could fall, before I could choose, a gust of wind broke the spell.
A crow landed on the rooftop ledge, feathers shimmering obsidian under the city lights.
Tied to its leg was a scroll.
Lucien pulled it free and unrolled it. His jaw tensed.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Kieran just exposed you to Sable,” he said. “She knows you’re alive.”
I swallowed hard. “What does that mean?”
“It means she’s not waiting anymore.”
---
Kieran’s POV
“She’s alive.”
Sable didn’t blink. She stood by the mirrored wall, watching her reflection adjust the collar of her silk robe.
“And she’s with Lucien,” Kieran added. “The curse is already reacting.”
“Good,” she said.
He frowned. “That’s good?”
She turned, eyes glinting like a violet flame. “It means it’s working.”
“What is?”
“The siphoning spell.”
“You said it was too dangerous.”
“I said it wasn’t ready.” She walked to the altar and drew a dagger from its sheath. “But now? The timing is perfect.”
Kieran watched as she sliced her palm and let her blood drip into the obsidian bowl.
“She still has fragments of her old mark,” Sable said. “The tattoos on her spine. The ones the Moon Temple couldn’t erase.”
“That magic is sacred.”
“And now it’s mine.”
The blood shimmered. Runes flared around the bowl.
Kieran stepped back. “You’re binding her?”
“Not just binding.” She smiled. “I’m taking what’s left.”
A chain of magic unfurled from the bowl, slithering like a serpent across the floor.
“Lucien won’t let it happen,” he warned.
“He won’t have a choice.”
Sable’s voice dipped into something ancient. Her hands moved, fingers dancing in unnatural shapes.
“She was born under two bloodlines. She was never meant to hold both. I’m just correcting the mistake.”
Kieran watched the magic surge toward the open window and vanish into the wind.
---
Aria Vale’s POV
Pain struck like a lightning bolt.
I dropped to my knees, my breath catching in my throat. The tattoos along my back pulsed, flared, and then burned.
Lucien was beside me instantly. “What is it?”
“Something’s wrong,” I gasped. “My mark… it’s—”
Light spilled from my skin, flickering and dimming like a dying flame.
Then the chain appeared.
A thin band of glowing energy snaked around my wrist, tightening like a noose.
Lucien’s eyes widened. “That’s bloodbinding magic.”
I clawed at the chain. “I can’t… it’s draining me…”
His hands gripped my shoulders. “Look at me. Don’t let it in.”
My vision blurred. The chain pulsed.
A voice echoed in my head, laced with venom and victory.
“Your power belongs to me now.”
- Writer
