Chapter 18
613 Words
JULIAN POV
“The second seal…”
My father’s voice faded.
“…is beneath the throne.”
A violent cough seized him.
Dark blood spilled through his fingers, splattering across the marble floor.
“My King!”
The physicians rushed forward.
He waved them away, but this time his arm failed him.
His knees buckled.
Before he could hit the floor, I caught him.
For the first time in my life…
He felt fragile.
The man who had ruled kingdoms…
Who had survived centuries…
Who had taught me that kings never bowed…
Was barely able to breathe.
“Father.”
His eyes found mine.
Clouded.
Tired.
Yet still frighteningly clear.
“You must listen…”
Another tremor shook the castle.
The ceiling groaned.
Stone crashed somewhere deeper inside the mountain.
“It’s breaking,” Cassian muttered.
“No,” my father whispered.
“It’s waking.”
His breathing grew slower.
Each breath farther apart than the last.
I tightened my grip around his shoulders.
“The physicians!”
“They can’t help me.”
“They have to.”
A weak smile crossed his face.
“You still think this is an illness.”
My jaw tightened.
“It isn’t?”
“No.”
He looked toward the throne room.
“For seven hundred years…”
“I have given the prison…”
“…pieces of my soul.”
Every word seemed to cost him.
“When a Valerius becomes King…”
“…the seal binds itself to him.”
I stared at him.
“So this…”
I looked at the blood staining his robes.
“…this is the price?”
He nodded faintly.
“I’ve been dying…”
“…since the day I was crowned.”
Silence swallowed the corridor.
Cassian lowered his head.
Even Lucien looked away.
My father drew another painful breath.
“When I die…”
“…the seal will lose its keeper.”
The castle shook again.
Harder.
Long cracks spread across the walls.
Somewhere beneath us…
The roar answered.
Louder.
Closer.
Almost…
Victorious.
I refused to let go of him.
“There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t.”
“There has to be.”
“There isn’t, Julian.”
His voice had become barely audible.
“The prison cannot have a dying king…”
“…and it cannot remain without one.”
His eyes drifted toward the black crown resting on the nearby pedestal.
“The House…”
“…needs its next King.”
I followed his gaze.
“No.”
“You must take it.”
“I won’t.”
“You already have.”
“I refuse.”
He smiled sadly.
“You’ve always mistaken refusing fate…”
“…for escaping it.”
His body suddenly went rigid.
Every muscle tightened.
His breathing stopped.
“Father?”
The physicians rushed forward.
One checked his pulse.
Another called for herbs.
Another shouted orders.
None of them mattered.
My father’s eyes opened one last time.
He wasn’t looking at me.
He was looking past me.
Toward the ancient library door.
Toward Penelope.
His lips moved.
So softly…
I almost missed the words.
“…forgive me…”
Then…
Nothing.
His body became impossibly still.
The physician slowly withdrew his trembling hand.
No one spoke.
No one breathed.
Finally…
He bowed his head.
“The King…”
His voice cracked.
“…is dead.”
At that exact moment…
Every candle in the corridor went out.
Darkness swallowed the castle.
A roar unlike anything I had ever heard erupted beneath the mountain.
The entire fortress lurched violently.
The sealed library door split down the middle with a deafening crack.
And somewhere beyond it…
Something laughed.
- Writer
