Chapter Eighteen: The Cradle
1045 Words
Selene could not move.
The silver chamber blurred around her as her gaze locked onto the cradle standing between the ancient thrones.
Small.
White.
Carved with lunar markings she would recognize anywhere.
Orion’s cradle.
No.
Not possible.
Her breathing turned uneven instantly.
Lucien noticed before anyone else.
“Selene?”
She barely heard him.
Memories crashed through her violently.
Long nights beside the fire while rocking Orion to sleep.
His tiny fingers wrapped around hers.
The soft laugh he made whenever Lucien lifted him onto his shoulders.
Gods—
Her son.
Pain tore through her chest so suddenly she staggered backward.
Kael caught her before she fell.
His hand steadied against her waist while his silver eyes sharpened dangerously toward the chamber.
“What is this place?”
The robed figure looked genuinely unsettled now.
“The Heart Chamber reflects the deepest truth connecting both bloodlines.”
Selene’s vision blurred.
“No…”
The cradle rocked gently on its own.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
As though an invisible child still slept inside.
Lucien stared at it silently.
Something inside him cracked open.
Another memory surfaced violently.
Selene sitting beside a window beneath moonlight, humming softly while holding a baby wrapped in silver blankets.
Their son.
The realization hit him like a blade through the ribs.
Lucien inhaled sharply.
“We had a child.”
Not a question.
Selene’s composure shattered completely.
“Yes.”
The single word echoed through the chamber.
Lucien looked physically ill.
Fragments slammed through his mind one after another now.
A tiny hand gripping his finger.
Orion laughing while snow fell around the palace gardens.
Selene smiling at him with exhausted happiness after childbirth.
And then—
A small coffin.
Cold.
Silent.
Lucien stumbled backward.
“No…”
Selene closed her eyes tightly.
She didn’t want to remember this.
Not here.
Not in front of him.
Not while his face slowly broke apart beneath the weight of memories he never earned the right to keep.
Kael’s grip around her waist tightened slightly.
The northern king looked furious now.
Not confused.
Not shocked.
Furious.
Because unlike Lucien—
Kael already remembered enough.
The Devourer’s distant voice rolled through the chamber softly.
“The little prince died beautifully.”
Lucien’s wolf exploded.
A roar tore from his throat as Nightfang burst into silver flames. The chamber shook violently beneath his rage.
“Enough!”
The sheer fury in his voice cracked the crystal floor beneath them.
Even the ancient chamber dimmed briefly in response.
The Devourer only laughed harder.
Selene pressed trembling fingers against her mouth.
Orion.
Gods, she could still see his face.
Still remember the fever burning through his tiny body while royal physicians failed helplessly around him.
Poison.
It had been poison.
And Evelyne—
The realization slammed into Lucien instantly.
His eyes widened in horror.
“She killed him.”
Selene went still.
Lucien stared at her with growing devastation.
“That’s why you looked at Evelyne that way.”
His breathing became ragged.
“She poisoned our son.”
The chamber fell silent.
Kael slowly closed his eyes once.
The robed figure looked away.
And Selene—
Selene finally looked directly at Lucien again.
“Yes.”
Lucien stopped breathing.
The truth ripped through him harder than any physical wound.
Because suddenly the memories connected.
Evelyne crying false tears beside Orion’s deathbed.
Selene accusing her while the court dismissed it as grief-driven madness.
The investigation finding nothing.
Then later—
Selene framed for treason shortly after demanding the case reopen.
Gods.
Gods—
Lucien staggered back another step.
He remembered enough now to understand the shape of his betrayal.
Not fully.
But enough.
“You tried to tell me,” he whispered hoarsely.
Selene laughed bitterly through tears.
“I begged you.”
The words shattered the chamber.
Lucien remembered flashes of it now.
Selene screaming during council meetings.
Selene demanding justice while nobles whispered she had become unstable after losing Orion.
And him—
Standing silent because he thought grief had broken her mind.
The weight of it nearly crushed him.
Kael watched coldly from beside Selene.
“This is the man you died protecting.”
Lucien’s silver eyes snapped toward him sharply.
But there was no anger left in them now.
Only horror.
Because Kael was right.
Selene wiped angrily at the tears escaping her eyes.
She hated crying in front of them.
Hated feeling weak again.
The cradle suddenly stopped rocking.
Silence flooded the chamber.
Then slowly—
Moonlight gathered above it.
A small figure began forming from silver light.
Lucien froze.
Selene’s heart stopped.
No.
No no no—
The child looked about five years old.
Silver eyes.
Dark hair.
A tiny smile.
Orion.
Selene broke.
A sob escaped her before she could stop it.
Lucien looked equally destroyed.
The boy tilted his head curiously, glowing softly beneath moonlight.
“Mama?”
Selene fell to her knees.
Every wall she built since returning collapsed instantly.
Orion looked exactly the same.
Gods.
Exactly the same.
Lucien stepped forward slowly like he was afraid the vision would disappear.
“Our son…”
Kael looked away quietly.
Even he understood this grief was too sacred to interrupt.
The child smiled brightly at Selene.
“You came back.”
The sentence froze the entire chamber.
Selene’s tears stopped instantly.
“What?”
Orion’s glowing form approached her slowly.
“You promised you would.”
The Heart Chamber trembled.
The robed figure looked alarmed suddenly.
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
Lucien stared at the child in shock.
Selene reached trembling fingers toward Orion’s face.
Her hand passed through moonlight.
The child still smiled gently.
“You’re late.”
Selene’s voice cracked completely.
“I tried…”
Orion looked toward Lucien then.
The smile faded slightly.
“You forgot us again.”
Lucien physically flinched.
The words hit harder than any punishment.
The child looked sad now.
Not angry.
That somehow hurt worse.
The chamber lights dimmed.
Ancient symbols began spinning faster around the thrones.
The robed figure stepped backward sharply.
“The seal is reacting.”
Kael frowned immediately.
“To what?”
No one answered.
Because Orion had turned toward the black throne.
And behind it—
Something was beginning to emerge from the shadows.
- Writer
