Chapter Twenty-ThreeChoose Yourself
1032 Words
The third throne pulsed softly.
Unlike the others, it did not demand.
It waited.
Silver and black flames curled together around the crystal seat like opposing forces finally learning to coexist. The chamber itself seemed uncertain how to react to it.
Because this path was never meant to exist.
Selene stared at the throne in silence.
Live.
The word echoed painfully through her chest.
Not survive.
Not sacrifice.
Not destroy.
Live.
It sounded so simple.
So why did it terrify her more than death ever had?
Lucien moved closer carefully, as though approaching a wounded animal.
“You don’t have to cut yourself away from everything.”
Selene laughed quietly.
“Everything already cut itself away from me once.”
The words landed brutally between them.
Lucien flinched.
Good.
She wanted him to feel even a fraction of the emptiness she carried after her execution.
The loneliness.
The betrayal.
The cold realization that the man she loved chose silence while she died.
Lucien’s voice roughened.
“If I could change what I did—”
“You can’t.”
Silence followed instantly.
Because that was the cruel truth.
No matter how much he regretted the future, Selene still remembered dying.
Still remembered searching the crowd desperately for the man who promised to protect her.
And finding nothing.
Kael suddenly stepped beside her.
Close enough that his shoulder brushed hers lightly.
“Don’t choose based on him.”
Lucien’s silver eyes darkened immediately.
Selene ignored both reactions.
Because Kael wasn’t wrong.
If she chose the third throne only to punish Lucien, then fate still controlled her.
The First Queen watched thoughtfully.
“You’re finally beginning to understand.”
Selene turned sharply toward her.
“No. I’m beginning to hate all of you.”
The woman smiled faintly.
“Excellent.”
That response was deeply unsettling.
Orion’s fading form sat quietly beside the cradle now, glowing weaker with every heartbeat. But despite his fading existence, he looked peaceful.
Almost proud.
Selene’s chest tightened painfully.
“Will I lose him no matter what?”
The chamber dimmed slightly.
The First Queen answered softly.
“Yes.”
The word shattered her.
Lucien closed his eyes briefly like the answer wounded him physically.
Kael looked away toward the crystal walls.
No one knew how to comfort grief this large.
Orion smiled gently at Selene.
“You never really lose people you love.”
Tears burned behind her eyes again.
Gods.
He sounded too wise for a child.
The boy tilted his head slightly.
“You taught me that.”
Selene nearly broke apart completely.
Lucien stared at Orion like he wanted to memorize every detail before losing him again.
Their son.
Their impossible little boy.
A future erased before it truly began.
The chamber heartbeat thundered louder.
The corruption above spread faster now.
Black cracks climbed across the ceiling while distant screams echoed through the tunnels.
The world was ending while they stood trapped inside old grief.
The First Queen lifted one pale hand slowly.
“The choice must be made.”
The silver throne blazed brighter.
The black throne roared with shadow.
The crystal throne shimmered quietly between them.
Three futures.
Three endings.
Lucien stepped directly in front of Selene suddenly.
His silver eyes looked wrecked now.
No pride.
No royal mask.
Only truth.
“If choosing yourself means walking away from me…” He swallowed once painfully. “Then do it.”
Selene froze.
Lucien’s gaze held hers completely.
“But don’t choose suffering because you think it’s all you deserve.”
The words cracked something open inside her chest.
Because no one had ever said that to her before.
Not truly.
Kael watched silently nearby.
Then unexpectedly—
He spoke too.
“He’s right.”
Lucien looked genuinely offended.
Kael ignored him completely.
His silver eyes remained fixed on Selene.
“You spend so much time deciding who deserves punishment that you forgot to ask whether you deserve peace.”
Selene stared at him quietly.
The chamber seemed to fade around them.
Because suddenly—
She understood.
Revenge had kept her alive after returning.
Hatred gave structure to grief.
But somewhere along the way, she forgot there could be something after vengeance.
The First Queen stepped closer slowly.
“And now?”
Selene looked toward the three thrones again.
The silver throne still tempted the part of her that would burn herself alive for others.
The black throne still whispered freedom through destruction.
But the third…
The third frightened her because it asked for something harder.
Faith.
Faith that she could exist without being defined by pain.
Without Lucien.
Without fate.
Without becoming a martyr or monster.
Just Selene.
The realization felt impossibly fragile.
Orion smiled softly.
“Mama?”
Selene looked toward him instantly.
The child’s form flickered like fading moonlight now.
“You can stop carrying everyone.”
A sob caught in her throat.
Because gods—
Even now, she didn’t know how.
The chamber trembled violently.
The First Queen’s expression sharpened.
“Hurry.”
Black corruption burst through cracks in the crystal walls, slithering across the floor toward the thrones. The prison seal was collapsing entirely.
There was no more time.
Selene inhaled shakily.
Then slowly—
She walked toward the third throne.
Lucien stopped breathing.
Kael went still.
The crystal flames brightened around her with every step.
The First Queen watched with something dangerously close to wonder.
“No incarnation ever chose herself before.”
Selene stopped before the throne.
The power radiating from it wrapped around her like cold water and moonlight.
Peaceful.
Terrifyingly peaceful.
Lucien’s voice broke behind her.
“Selene…”
She looked back once.
Gods.
He looked devastated already.
Kael looked no better.
And somehow that made this harder.
Because she cared.
About both of them.
Maybe differently.
Maybe impossibly.
But enough to hurt.
Selene turned back toward the throne slowly.
Then the First Queen spoke one final time.
“If you choose this path…”
Selene’s fingers brushed the crystal armrest.
“You will never belong to them again.”
Silence.
The chamber heartbeat stopped completely.
And Selene realized the cruelest part of freedom—
Was that no one could walk into it beside you.
- Writer
