The moment my hand touched the doorknob, a dagger sliced through the air straight toward us.
“Look out!” Lucien shouted.
Before I could even react, he shoved me hard out of the way.
We both crashed onto the floor.
I hit the ground first
And Lucien fell directly on top of me.
For a brief, strange moment, everything went still.
Our eyes locked.
His breath was uneven.
Mine was frozen.
It felt like the entire world had disappeared… leaving only the two of us in that silence.
Then
A slow, mocking voice broke the moment.
“Awwn… how touching.”
Aurora.
She stepped into view, her expression twisted with fury and amusement.
“Isn’t this just beautiful?” she said coldly.
“Two lovers… about to die together.”
Lucien immediately pushed himself up.
His expression hardened as his arm shifted
Bones and flesh twisting as his left arm transformed into a wolf’s claw.
Even injured, he moved fast.
Aurora noticed instantly.
Her eyes narrowed.
“You’re already wounded…” she said softly.
And then she smiled.
“Perfect.”
She struck first.
Her dagger cut through the air and sliced into the very arm she had injured earlier.
Lucien let out a sharp groan and dropped to one knee, clutching his arm tightly.
“Lucien!” I shouted, rushing forward.
But he lifted his head sharply.
“STAY OUT OF THIS, MASTER!” he shouted.
“I WILL PROTECT YOU—EVEN IF I HAVE TO GIVE UP MY LIFE!”
Those words made my chest tighten painfully.
But there was no time to react.
Aurora moved again.
This time, her blade aimed for his injured leg.
I stumbled backward in panic
My foot slipped.
And I fell hard onto the floor.
A strange, unbearable sensation hit me.
It wasn’t just fear.
It felt like his pain was echoing inside my body.
I pressed a hand to my face.
Tears were already falling.
I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt them.
Then it broke out of me completely.
“LUCIEN, NO!” I screamed.
I covered my mouth immediately, shaking as I tried to stop myself from crying louder.
Aurora raised her dagger again
But before she could strike
A shadow moved.
“Sylas!”
A giant raven-like claw formed from Sylas’s arm as he lunged forward.
He struck Aurora’s weapon cleanly, knocking the dagger out of her hand.
It clattered across the floor.
Sylas turned toward me immediately, his eyes sharp.
He didn’t speak.
But I understood the signal.
Take him.
Go.
I rushed forward.
Lucien was barely holding himself up now, breathing heavily.
Together, we dragged him toward the inner chamber—the room where the Queen Mother was being kept.
The moment we entered, everything felt colder.
Silent.
Wrong.
I laid Lucien carefully beside the Queen Mother.
He forced himself to sit up, checking her pulse.
Then
He went still.
His expression darkened slightly.
“…She’s dead,” he said quietly.
My breath caught.
I stepped back instinctively.
My legs hit a table behind me, and I fell against it.
Wood scraped loudly as I stumbled.
“No…” I whispered.
Lucien didn’t look at me.
Then he spoke again.
“But,”
I looked up sharply.
“But what?”
He hesitated.
Then, slowly
“I can still save her.”
A shaky breath left my lips.
Relief and disbelief hit me at the same time.
I stared at him, frozen.
“…Save her?” I whispered.
Lucien nodded faintly.
And in that moment
Everything outside the room still raged.
But inside…
A single fragile chance at life remained.
I stared at Lucien in confusion.
“How?” I asked softly.
Lucien’s breathing remained uneven as he looked toward the Queen Mother lying motionless on the bed.
Then quietly, he spoke.
“I have the ability to resurrect the dead.”
My eyes widened instantly.
“As long as their soul hasn’t completely crossed over,” he continued weakly.
“When a person dies, their soul begins moving toward the White Light.”
His gaze darkened slightly.
“If their soul enters it fully… I can no longer sense their energy.”
A brief silence filled the room.
“And once that happens,” he whispered, “I won’t be able to restore the soul back into the body.”
My chest tightened.
I immediately looked toward the Queen Mother.
“What about her?” I asked nervously.
Lucien closed his eyes for a moment.
“Her soul is still here,” he muttered.
“But barely.”
Then his expression hardened.
“She’s on the verge of entering the light.”
Fear rushed through me instantly.
“Well then what are you waiting for?!” I shouted.
“Save her!”
Lucien looked at me silently for a few seconds.
Then slowly,
He turned back toward the Queen Mother.
The next moment,
A massive white light exploded across the room.
I gasped loudly.
The brightness swallowed everything around me.
I couldn’t see the walls.
Couldn’t see the room.
Couldn’t even see Lucien anymore.
It was like the entire world had disappeared inside the light.
Then
I saw someone standing in the middle of it.
A woman.
Transparent.
Fading.
“The Queen Mother…” I whispered shakily.
That had to be her soul.
Suddenly, Lucien’s voice echoed sharply through the light.
“Cover your eyes unless you want to become blind!”
I immediately shut my eyes tightly.
The light only grew brighter.
Time passed strangely after that.
Minutes felt like hours.
And slowly…
The energy inside the room began weakening.
About thirty minutes later, the silence finally returned.
My breathing slowed as I carefully opened my eyes.
The white light was gone.
Lucien had collapsed onto the floor beside the bed, breathing heavily.
And the Queen Mother
Her fingers twitched slightly.
Then slowly…
Her eyes opened.
Relief crashed into me instantly.
“She’s alive…” I whispered.
I quickly stepped forward.
But before I could say anything
“MOTHER!”
Aurora’s voice echoed through the room.
I froze.
Aurora rushed inside immediately.
The moment she reached the bed, she shoved past me hard enough to nearly make me lose balance.
Then she threw herself into the Queen Mother’s arms dramatically.
“Mummy!” Aurora cried.
“You’re alive!”
The Queen Mother looked weak and confused.
Aurora immediately turned toward her with tears in her eyes.
“Mummy… Seraphina did this on purpose,” she said shakily.
“She commanded her beasts to attack you.”
My eyes widened.
Aurora pointed directly at me.
“She even ordered Adrian to bite you.”
“What?!” I shouted.
“That’s not true!”
I stepped forward immediately.
“Aurora is the one behind everything!” I cried desperately.
“She poisoned me!
She activated my beasts!
She even tried to stop me from saving you!”
The Queen Mother’s expression slowly changed.
Shock.
Confusion.
Then uncertainty.
Aurora suddenly stood up from beside the bed.
“THAT’S A LIE!” she screamed.
Tears streamed down her face as she pointed accusingly at me.
“Mummy, do you know she even tried to leave the kingdom?!”
She shook her head dramatically.
“I chased after her myself!
I begged her to come save you, but she refused!”
My breath caught.
“She’s lying!” I shouted immediately.
Aurora ignored me completely.
“I even fought with her trying to protect you,” Aurora continued emotionally.
“You can ask the guards!”
The Queen Mother slowly turned toward the palace guards standing nearby.
“Is this true?” she asked weakly.
My heart dropped.
I immediately looked toward the guards
Then toward Aurora.
And that’s when I noticed it.
The signal.
Aurora’s fingers moved subtly beside her dress.
A warning.
A threat.
The head palace guard stepped forward immediately and bowed.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said firmly.
“Lady Aurora is telling the truth.”
“No!” I stepped forward desperately.
“They’re lying!
Aurora forced them!”
“Look!” Aurora suddenly interrupted loudly.
Everyone turned toward her.
“If it’s proof you want…” she said softly, “then I’ll show you proof.”
Slowly,
She raised the sleeve of her dress.
A deep cut was visible across her arm.
The exact place Kael had injured her earlier.
Gasps filled the room.
Then Aurora slowly pointed toward me.
Everyone’s eyes turned instantly.
Confused, I looked down at myself.
And froze.
A dagger.
Inside my pocket.
My breathing stopped completely.
“H… how did that get there?” I whispered.
My hands began shaking violently as I pulled it out.
“No… no, this was Aurora’s dagger!
She tried to use it to kill me!”
Aurora stared at me coldly.
“If I tried to kill you,” she said softly, “then why is the dagger in your pocket… and not mine?”
Silence.
Complete silence.
I froze completely.
My fingers tightened around the edge of the curtain beside me as panic swallowed me whole.
“I,”
My voice cracked.
“It’s a lie… she put it there herself!
You have to believe me!”
But before I could continue,
The Queen Mother slowly raised her hand.
And looked at me.
Not with love.
Not with warmth.
Not even with disappointment.
But with anger.
Hatred.
Disgust.
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