Chapter Four — The First Month
977 Words
"So soon?"
Isella's brow furrowed.
She lowered her hand from her neck, though the warmth still lingered beneath her skin like a slow-burning ember.
"...What?"
Vaelthar remained silent.
For a moment, he simply studied her, his crimson eyes searching her face as though hoping he had been mistaken.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than before.
"Finish your tea."
She blinked.
"You're avoiding the question."
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because I need to be certain before I answer."
Isella frowned, but lifted the cup nonetheless. The warmth beneath her skin gradually eased, though it never disappeared completely.
Only after the servants had cleared the table and the dining hall stood empty did Vaelthar rise.
"Walk with me."
The halls of the palace were unusually still.
Their footsteps echoed softly through polished corridors lit by pale blue flames.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Eventually Isella stopped walking.
"You said 'so soon.'"
Vaelthar halted a few steps ahead of her.
His shoulders remained squared, but something about his posture felt... heavier.
"You deserve honesty."
He turned to face her.
"Every human who has entered the Abyss has died."
The words settled between them like falling stone.
Isella stared.
"...Every one?"
"Every one."
She felt her stomach tighten.
"How?"
"The Abyss rejects mortal flesh."
His gaze drifted toward one of the towering windows overlooking the endless darkness beyond.
"It is not poison."
"It is not disease."
"It is simply... incompatible."
She waited.
"The first symptom is warmth."
Almost instinctively, she rubbed her arm.
"The body begins to fight against the realm surrounding it."
He continued calmly.
"The warmth becomes persistent. Then comes fatigue. Restlessness. Dreams unlike any the mind has known before."
His expression remained unreadable.
"Eventually, the body begins to fail."
"How long?"
"Most survive two weeks."
His answer came without hesitation.
"The strongest have endured nearly a month."
Silence.
"And after that?"
"They die."
He did not soften the truth.
He simply offered it.
Isella looked away.
"So... you bought me knowing that?"
"...Yes."
Her eyes snapped back to him.
"Why?"
Vaelthar held her gaze.
"Because allowing you to remain at that auction guaranteed your suffering."
A pause.
"I chose the certainty I could influence over the uncertainty I could not."
She searched his face for deception.
Found none.
"You believed I would die."
"I still do."
The honesty should have angered her.
Instead...
It only made him seem lonelier.
Neither of them spoke again for the remainder of the walk.
When they reached her chambers, Vaelthar opened the door himself.
"You should rest."
"I'm not tired."
"You will be."
She started to protest.
Instead, a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over her.
Her knees nearly buckled.
Vaelthar stepped forward instinctively.
His hand hovered just beside her elbow.
Close enough to steady her.
Never touching.
"You see."
His voice carried neither triumph nor concern.
Only quiet certainty.
"I'll have meals brought here tomorrow."
She managed a tired nod.
As he turned to leave, she spoke.
"Vaelthar."
He paused.
"...If I'm going to die..."
He looked back.
"...Thank you."
For not treating me like property.
For telling me the truth.
For giving me a room instead of a cell.
She couldn't bring herself to say the words aloud.
He inclined his head once.
"Sleep well, Isella."
The door closed softly behind him.
The days became weeks.
Each morning began the same.
Breakfast arrived shortly after sunrise.
Fresh clothes were laid out.
Books appeared on her shelves without explanation.
Sometimes she wandered the gardens nestled within the castle walls, where black roses bloomed beneath crimson skies.
Other days she lost herself in the immense library, discovering histories older than the kingdoms of men.
Vaelthar joined her for lunch almost every day.
Occasionally for dinner.
Their conversations grew longer.
Less cautious.
She learned that he preferred tea over wine despite the untouched goblets servants placed before him.
He learned she had an infuriating habit of asking questions no one else dared ask.
She challenged him.
He answered.
When he refused, she noticed.
And when she caught him avoiding a subject, she simply waited.
Eventually...
He usually answered anyway.
Yet beneath the growing familiarity, the mystery remained.
The warmth returned every evening.
Sometimes accompanied by faint tingling beneath her skin.
Sometimes by vivid dreams she could never quite remember after waking.
But nothing else happened.
No fever.
No weakness.
No failing strength.
One week passed.
Then two.
Three.
Vaelthar watched carefully.
Every meal.
Every conversation.
Every walk through the gardens.
He never mentioned it.
But she noticed his eyes lingered a fraction longer each day.
Nearly a month after the auction, he stood alone within the castle's observatory.
Ancient tomes lay open across a circular stone table.
Scrolls covered in forgotten languages.
Records dating back thousands of years.
Every account told the same story.
Humans did not survive the Abyss.
Yet Isella laughed with servants.
Read beside fireplaces.
Walked the halls as though she had always belonged there.
The symptoms should have worsened.
Instead...
They had stopped.
A knock sounded behind him.
One of his oldest advisors entered cautiously.
"My Lord."
Vaelthar did not look away from the open books.
"...She should be dead."
The advisor remained silent.
"It has been twenty-eight days."
Still silence.
"The realm has not rejected her."
He slowly closed one of the ancient tomes.
"I know every law governing this kingdom."
Another book.
Every prophecy.
Every curse.
Every pact ever forged beneath this sky.
His hand rested upon the final volume.
"And none explain her."
For the first time in longer than anyone alive could remember, the immortal Sovereign of the Abyss found himself facing something utterly unknown.
Not an enemy.
Not a god.
Not an ancient horror.
Just...
A human girl who should not have survived.
And despite centuries of knowledge, power, and dominion over the realm itself...
Vaelthar realised he did not know why.
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