Chapter 43: The Fragile Dawn
774 Words
The air in the throne room felt as if it had been vacuumed out, leaving only the sound of Kael’s frantic breathing as he continued to parry his father’s relentless unfeeling strikes. The Queen stood motionless, her hand still raised, her fingers twitching with the residue of her own dark power. She stared at the seed in Elara’s palm, a tiny brilliant star in the center of a room defined by absolute darkness.
You are insane, the Queen whispered, but the venom was gone, replaced by hollow shaking disbelief.
Maybe, Elara replied, her hand steady, her eyes locked on the Queen’s milky fractured gaze. But I am also right. You have been waiting three hundred years for someone to offer you a hand instead of a sword. You did not want to destroy the world, Seraphine. You just wanted the world to see how much you were hurting.
The Queen’s mask cracked. A vein pulsed in her temple. I killed thousands, she spat, though her voice lacked the authority it held moments ago. I turned the earth to dust. I enslaved the father of your lover.
I know, Elara said gently.
I will never be sorry, the Queen insisted, her voice breaking.
Elara offered a sad thin smile. I am not asking you to be sorry for the past. I am asking you to be tired of the present. Are you not tired, Seraphine? Are you not so, so tired of being the villain?
The Queen’s hand began to shake violently. The shadows that had wrapped the room in perpetual dusk began to recede, curling back into the corners like frightened animals. Her fingers, suddenly appearing thin pale and unmistakably human, reached out.
Elara, do not, Kael shouted, his voice desperate. He had managed to pin his father’s blade to the floor, but he was terrified to move, to break the fragile equilibrium of the moment.
Elara did not look back. She kept her eyes on Seraphine. You loved him. And he broke you. But you do not have to stay broken. Let it go.
The Queen’s fingertips brushed the surface of the seed. A sound filled the room, not a crash but a long melodic hum like a thousand birds taking flight at once. The light did not explode in violence. It bloomed like a wave of pure golden warmth. It washed over the obsidian floor, and where the light touched, the black stone cracked, shattered, and was overtaken by a sudden violent eruption of greenery. Vines, thick and vibrant, burst through the fissures, twisting around the pillars and the bones.
The Queen gasped, a sound of raw unadulterated human feeling. She collapsed to her knees, her silks fluttering as she hit the ground.
Across the room, Theron stumbled. The unnatural rigidness of his stance vanished. He blinked, his hollow eyes fluttering, the dull gray of his skin taking on a faint healthy hue. He looked around the room, confused, until his gaze settled on the woman kneeling in the dirt and vines.
Seraphine, he rasped, his voice sounding like dry leaves.
The Queen looked up, tears streaming down her face, cutting tracks through her makeup. Theron.
He fell to his knees beside her, his movements jerky but filled with sudden agonizing tenderness. He reached out, his hand trembling as he touched her cheek. I am sorry, he whispered.
She shook her head, burying her face against his chest, her sobs racking her frame. I am sorry. I am so sorry.
The curse did not break with a battle cry or a final blow. It broke with a sigh, a release of pressure that seemed to ripple across the entire continent. Outside, the wolves stopped their snarling. The pack members froze, the red haze fading from their eyes.
Kael dropped his sword. It hit the ground with a dull clang. He fell to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. He felt the cold jagged pressure in his mind dissolve, replaced by sudden overwhelming quiet. He looked up, his eyes clear, the gold of his irises bright and unclouded.
Elara was there in an instant, dropping to her knees to pull him into her arms. He clung to her, shaking, his face buried in her neck.
It is gone, he breathed. The rage, the shadow. It is gone.
Elara kissed his forehead, her own tears falling freely. I know, she whispered.
He pulled her back, looking at her with such intensity that it felt like he was seeing her for the first time. I love you, he said.
Elara laughed, a sound of relief that turned into a sob. I know that too.
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