CHAPTER THIRTEEN:THE BRIDE GRAVES
1030 Words
Elara pov
I couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't scream….. I was trapped somewhere deep inside my own body while someone else wore my skin.
I could feel everything though, every step she took with my legs, every breath she drew with my lungs, every word she spoke with my mouth.
Six hours, Kael had said six hours when I finally clawed my way back.
When my eyes finally flickered from silver back to brown and I collapsed on the forest floor gasping like a drowning woman.
"How long?" I managed to ask, my throat raw like I'd been screaming.
"Six hours," Kael said from where he stood a few feet away, his face haggard and exhausted.
"She was getting stronger, I couldn't break through this time."
I looked down at my hands and wanted to scream, covered in dirt, blood and things I didn't want to identify.
Scratches all over my arms, my dress torn worse than before.
"What did she make me do?"
Kael's jaw tightened….. "come on," he said quietly.
"I'll show you."
My legs barely held me but I followed him through the trees until we reached a small clearing, my stomach dropped.
A wolf lay there, torn apart, its throat ripped open, claw marks across its body that matched the blood under my fingernails.
"She was hunting," Kael said, his voice careful.
"Said she needed to feed, to get stronger."
I turned away and vomited, nothing but bile burning my throat.
When I was done I couldn't look at him, couldn't look at the body, couldn't look at my own blood-stained hands.
"I'm a monster," I whispered.
"You're cursed," Kael corrected, but the words felt hollow.
"What's the difference?" I asked bitterly.
We walked in silence after that, putting distance between us and what I'd done.
What she'd done, what did it matter anymore when it was my hands that had killed.
I noticed white flowers growing everywhere, delicate blooms that seemed to glow in the dim morning light.
"Moonblooms...." Kael said when he saw me looking.
"They only grow where strong magic has been, where death has touched the earth."
The flowers grew thicker as we walked, covering the ground in a carpet of white, then I saw the first grave, a simple marker half-hidden by roots.
Then another, and another, dozens of them scattered through the trees.
"What is this place?" I whispered, horror crawling up my spine.
"Where the brides end up," Kael said quietly.
"The ones who ran, the ones who tried to escape, the forest always brings them here eventually."
I walked among the graves, my hands shaking, reading the names carved into weathered stones….
Isabelle, Catherine, Margot, so many women, all dead, all wearing my face when they died.
"You buried them," I said, it wasn't a question.
"Yes," Kael said, "it was the least I could do."
At the center of the graveyard, separated from the others by a circle of moonblooms, stood a grave with a proper stone marker, more ornate than the rest.
Carefully tended, the inscription read:
ELENA, Beloved Daughter, May the Moon Guide You Home.
"Who was Elena?" I asked, something cold settling in my chest.
Kael's face went white, all the color draining from it in an instant.
His hands trembled, he turned away without answering.
"Kael," I pressed, moving closer.
"Who was she?"
"Someone I failed," he said, his voice breaking in a way I'd never heard before.
"like I've failed everyone."
He never told you about his daughter, did he?
Seraphina's voice came suddenly and sharp in my mind, cruel and mocking, about what he did to save her, about what he did to me.
I stared at the grave, at the word daughter carved in stone, understanding hitting me like a physical blow.
"You had a daughter," I said.
Kael said nothing but his silence was answer enough, his shoulders shook, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"She's the reason isn't she?" I asked, pieces falling into place like a terrible puzzle.
"The reason you bound Seraphina's soul, you were trying to save your daughter."
"Yes," Kael finally admitted, the word torn from him, "and I failed, she died anyway, they both did."
"Because of you," I said, the words coming out colder than I intended.
Kael flinched like I'd struck him, "yes," he said simply, "because of me."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Elena was dying," Kael said, still not looking at me.
"A curse, dark magic, nothing could break it, Seraphina was the most powerful healer in the realm.
I went to her, begged her to save my daughter."
"And?" I pressed.
"She agreed," Kael said, "but the price was too high, she wanted, she asked for things I couldn't give.
When I refused she cursed Elena anyway, made it worse.
I lost control, I used forbidden magic to bind Seraphina's soul to the castle, thought I could force her to break the curse."
"But it didn't work," I said.
"No," Kael's voice broke again, "Elena died three days later, and Seraphina's soul twisted into something dark, something that feeds on others.
The curse I created turned her into a monster."
"And now she wants revenge," I said quietly.
"Now she wants to live again," Kael said, "and she'll use anyone with her bloodline to do it.
Every bride I've brought has been a descendant, a way for her to claw back into the world."
My vision blurred at the edges, that familiar pulling sensation.
"No," I gasped, recognizing it, "not again, please not again."
"Elara fight it," Kael spun around, his eyes going wide.
"I can't," I said, my voice rising in panic, "she's too strong, Kael I can't."
My eyes flashed silver, the world shifted.
I felt myself shoved down deep, trapped behind my own eyes while she took control, this time was different though, this time she was stronger, this time she could access the power.
I felt my hand raise, felt moonfire erupt from my palm, silver flames hot and deadly, aimed directly at Kael's heart.
"Let's see if you can save this one," Seraphina said with my mouth, her voice cold and triumphant.
- Writer
