CHAPTER FIVE — POISON IN THE VEINS
1560 Words
My mother’s head lolled against Kael’s shoulder, her skin pale beneath the firelight, lips turning the wrong shade—too blue, too fast.
“No—no, no, stay with me,” I whispered, touching her cheek. Her skin was icy. Wrong. Completely wrong.
Kael strode down the corridor at a near run, his long legs cutting through the castle like a blade through darkness. He carried her as if she weighed nothing.
“Sarina!” he barked.
The commander appeared instantly, bow drawn, eyes widening when she saw my mother limp in his arms.
“Poison?” Sarina asked.
“Yes,” Kael snarled.
I clenched my fists, heart pounding so violently it hurt.
“Who poisoned her? How? Why?”
Kael didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
Not yet.
But he had suspicions.
And every time his gaze cut back toward the throne hall, full of councilors and enemies cloaked in courtesy, his aura darkened like a storm ready to break.
We turned a corner—Kael kicked open a heavy door, revealing a healing chamber glowing with warm lanterns and shelves stacked with herbs.
Three healers jumped to their feet at once.
“Prepare a table—NOW!” Kael commanded.
The healers scrambled.
One spread clean cloth.
Another lit the enchanted braziers.
A third began crushing moonflower petals with trembling hands.
Kael laid my mother gently onto the table. Her body sagged. Her breathing slowed.
The bond between us—thin, barely present, the way all human-born wolves felt—flickered like a dying flame.
“Mom?” I whispered, gripping her hand. “Open your eyes, please. Please—”
Her eyelids fluttered weakly.
“Aria…sweetheart…”
Tears blurred my vision. “You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
“Let the healers work,” Kael said.
I turned on him, shaking. “Do something! You can’t just stand there!”
His jaw tightened. “I am doing something.”
“Then DO MORE!”
He flinched.
Just for a heartbeat.
Like my fear hit him somewhere deeper than anger.
Then he stepped closer, voice low. “I need you steady. She needs you steady.”
I swallowed, trying to force air into my lungs.
A healer stepped forward, sniffing the air around my mother.
“Bloodbane,” she whispered.
The room froze.
Kael’s entire aura snapped like a whip.
“Bloodbane,” Sarina repeated softly, horrified. “That poison is forbidden. It can only come from—”
“The council,” Kael finished.
My stomach plummeted.
“No,” I whispered. “They wouldn’t—she’s human, she’s harmless, why would they—”
Kael turned toward me, eyes burning molten gold. “They don’t want you here.”
“But poison—”
“They see you as a threat.”
“A threat?! Why?! I didn’t do anything!”
“Because you exist.”
The words stung deeper than any blade.
One healer quickly mixed a glowing blue tonic and held it to my mother’s lips. She swallowed once. Then sagged again.
“It’s not enough,” the healer said frantically. “She needs a stronger infusion.”
“I’ll get it,” Sarina said and bolted out of the room.
I stroked my mother’s hair, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Mom… please… stay with me.”
“She will,” Kael murmured, stepping close. “She will not die. I won’t allow it.”
“You can’t control death,” I whispered trembling.
He knelt beside me, lowering his voice:
“I control a kingdom. I control armies. I control the council when necessary.”
He leaned in.
“And I will burn every law in this palace if it means she breathes another hour.”
My breath hitched.
He was terrifying.
He was intense.
He was a king.
But in that moment… he was something else too.
Someone desperate to keep me from breaking.
“Look at me,” he said, lifting my chin with two fingers.
I met his eyes for one trembling moment.
A mistake.
Because I saw something raw in them.
Fear.
For me.
“Whatever happens,” he said softly, “I will protect her. I swear it on my blood.”
I shook my head. “If she dies here—if something happens—I’ll never forgive you.”
His nostrils flared. His jaw clenched like I’d stabbed him.
“Then I will give you no reason to need forgiveness.”
Before I could answer, my mother convulsed.
Her back arched off the table, mouth open in a silent scream. The healers rushed around her, trying to hold her down.
“Mom!” I grabbed her hand. “Mom, I’m here—stay with me—stay with me—”
Her eyes rolled back.
A sickening darkness crept up her veins like black tendrils under her skin.
“No no no—STOP—” I cried.
Kael grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back. “Aria—”
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I shoved him, wild with panic.
The air crackled.
Literally crackled.
A pulse of heat burst from my chest—slamming into Kael like invisible lightning.
He grunted, stumbling back a step as shock flashed across his face.
The healers froze.
Sarina burst back into the room just in time to see the tail end of it.
“What was THAT?” she breathed.
My heart pounded.
“I—I don’t know—I didn’t mean to—I just—”
Kael stared at me, eyes wide.
“That wasn’t normal,” he said lowly.
“That wasn’t human,” Sarina added.
“That wasn’t even wolf-born,” whispered a healer.
My hands shook violently. The air around me shimmered faintly—like heatwaves rising from a flame.
My mother convulsed again, screaming this time.
Kael snapped out of it instantly.
“Give her the moonroot tonic NOW!”
Sarina rushed the vial to the healers.
The thick liquid glowed white-blue—pure moonlight in a bottle.
A healer tipped it to my mother’s lips.
She swallowed.
Once.
Twice.
Then her body sagged.
Still.
My breath held.
Her chest rose shallowly.
I broke.
I sobbed, collapsing over her hand. “Please don’t leave me. Please. I can’t lose you.”
Kael’s hand rested on my back—not possessive, not claiming.
Just steady.
“We won’t lose her,” he whispered roughly. “Not tonight.”
Minutes passed.
Each one torture.
Finally—slowly—her breathing deepened.
Color returned faintly to her skin.
The black veins faded, bit by bit.
“She’s stabilizing,” a healer whispered. “The moonroot is working.”
My knees gave out with relief. Kael caught me before I hit the floor.
My mother’s fingers twitched weakly in mine.
“Aria…” she whispered.
“I’m here,” I choked. “I’m right here.”
Her eyes fluttered open—just barely.
“She… was going… to warn you…”
“Warn me? About what?”
Her gaze shifted—to Kael.
To Sarina.
Then to the door.
“Not everyone… who smiles… is your ally,” she breathed.
My blood ran cold.
Kael straightened, eyes blazing with rage he barely contained. “She was targeted. In my hall. Under my roof.”
His voice turned lethal.
“By someone who knew exactly what she meant to Aria.”
Sarina stepped forward. “I will search the council quarters. We will find who brewed the Bloodbane.”
Kael nodded once—sharp. “Show no mercy.”
She bowed and vanished.
A healer approached timidly. “She needs rest. Deep rest. She will wake in a few hours, maybe by morning.”
I exhaled shakily. “Thank you—thank you so much—”
Kael turned to the healers, voice cold steel.
“If she worsens, send for me immediately.”
They nodded vigorously.
Then Kael looked at me.
And something in his gaze softened—painfully.
“Aria,” he murmured, “you unleashed power.”
I froze. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No. But you did.”
He stepped closer until his warmth wrapped around me.
“You’re not just Lucien’s child.”
I swallowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means you are more than you think.” He paused, eyes burning. “And now, more than ever, they will come for you.”
My skin prickled. “Who?”
“Everyone.”
A shiver ran down my spine.
He took my wrist gently—almost tenderly.
The mark glowed faintly under his touch.
“Your mother lives,” he whispered. “But danger lives with her. And with you.”
“Kael—”
“I will not let them take you,” he vowed. “Not the council. Not the traitors. Not fate itself.”
A knock pounded at the door.
Sarina’s voice came sharp, breathless:
“Your Majesty! You need to see this. Now.”
Kael’s eyes shifted to gold flame.
“What is it?”
Sarina hesitated.
“It’s a message—from the traitor pack.”
Kael stiffened.
Sarina swallowed.
“They say they have a claim… on Aria.”
My heart stopped.
Kael’s eyes darkened into something terrifying.
“Over my dead body.”
- Writer
