The night after dinner was restless.
Shadows whispered. Magical alarms flashed one after another in the west wing.
Kallen sat at his desk, going through reports and building the next part of his plan.
He knew Alessia wouldn't wait. She always played it safe.
"Lord..." A ward flew into the room. "Alarm. East Tower. Norea's room. Flame."
Kalen jumped.
- what?
"Fire... living magic. Ancient. Norea is there. Locked up."
"Tyrk!" Kallen shouted. "Take all the spiders. Get her out. At any cost!"
He ran towards the tower.
When he arrived, the entire tower was ablaze. The magic wasn't just burning; it was tearing apart the fabric of space, turning the air into a living hell.
The servants couldn't pass through. There were barriers around them, just like the ones used by royal blood mages. Only one could create them.
"Mom," Kalen whispered.
Thirk was the first to break through. His body was burned, but he carried something wrapped in a cloak out of the room.
Shadows whispered: "Norea... still breathing..."
Kalen sat down beside her.
She was covered in blood and ashes. Her skin was covered in burns, her voice was burned, but her lips were moving.
He leaned closer.
"Kalen... she said... if you don't give up..." blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, "she'll kill... me... I didn't believe it..."
He squeezed her hand until she stopped breathing.
Norea, the youngest of the sisters. The most cheerful. The kindest.
She burned down her own room... because her mother decided to remind her of what she was capable of.
Less than two hours had passed. Alesia was captured by Ward's shadows. She was found in the western chapel, where she was praying, hypocritically and calmly.
She was silent when they dragged her into the dungeon.
Kallen stood in the center of the stone chamber. His eyes burned red. Behind him were Beste, Thirk, Ward, and several ice spiders.
"You've lost," he said.
"I warned you," she replied coldly. "You led her to her death."
He stepped forward.
"You... you killed my sister. You blew up the baby's room."
You sent death after me, thinking you had everything under control.
He took out the amulet that his father had worn.
"But you've forgotten one thing. I'm not Velmut. I'm worse."
The shadows grabbed Alessia. The magic of pain began to weave through the air.
"Tell me everything," Kalen whispered. "Who is with you. What are your plans. Where is the root of this rotten conspiracy?"
Because if you don't tell me…
He touched her temple with his fingers, which drew dark lines.
"I'll pull it out myself. And you'll feel every moment."
Alessia looked at her in horror.
And at that moment, she realized that her son had become a monster. Her monster.
Somewhere above the palace, in the shadow of the spire, Reyna looked down.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She could hear Alessia screaming.
She heard Norea's name spoken like a curse.
And I knew there was no turning back now.
Kalen was no longer just a boy with a shadow in his eyes.
He became someone no one could control.