The bird trembled, feathers plastered white with rain, its leg swollen beneath a cruel black knot.
Seraphina knelt, her palm opening to show a scatter of grains. The little creature hopped closer, shivering. Her free hand brushed the knot, fingers tugging until it loosened.
A crack split the sky. Rain burst through the balcony doors, spattering her arms, soaking the obsidian floor. The bird sagged into her hand, frail as breath. But her eyes had already shifted to the folded paper on her hand.
The letters lay calm across the page,too calm and written in red. Stains bled through the back, no ink could have done that. Her pulse stumbled. The grains slipped from her palm, scattering like brittle shells. The bird startled, wings flashing wide, and vanished into the storm.
The air thickened. Chandeliers quaked. Stone trembled with pressure unseen.
Below, Elowen's room shook. Dust clouded the air. Pebbles fell. The maids collapsed, gasping for breath. Elowen bent over her child, whispering comfort through fear. Crimson light unfurled, wrapping her and the babe, repelling falling debris.
Above, rain sprayed across Seraphina's arms. The cold cut into her skin, the same chill she remembered from long ago, when he would pour lake water into her clothes, laughing at her shiver.
The storm eased. Dust settled. The palace exhaled.
The wind wove between the towers. Moonlight broke through, spilling silver across the stone. For one heartbeat, the world held perfectly still.
Seraphina stepped into the balcony's flood, marble cold beneath her feet. Behind her, jeweled glass rattled in its frame. Skeletal pillars rose around her, their hollow ribs catching her shadow.
Her gaze lifted toward the heart of the kingdom. The black wall loomed vast, circling the land, sealing all four rings inside. At its center rose the palace itself.
And with that sight, she felt him.
Alaric.
His voice pressed close, low and reverent, brushing her ear though no breath stirred her skin.
"When you cry, you are the moon. Hiding your light, but never your beauty."
Her chest tightened. She didn't turn. She couldn't. The thread of silver light cracked into her memory, latching high into the storm.
The ground fell away.
The wind rushed past, fierce and cold, as if it sought to scour them clean. His arm braced her waist, anchoring her against the void. Together, they soared.
The four pillars of the palace rose to meet them,colossal and endless. Moonlight struck their carvings, making angels and demons writhe across the stone, beasts clawing upward, faces frozen in screams and prayers. Balconies jutted from their surfaces, proof that these were not just supports but living walls of chambers, thousands of unseen lives breathing within them.
"Do you see it?" Alaric's voice was close, almost awed. "Even the moon envies you. You make stone shine brighter than silver."
Seraphina's cheeks flushed against the cold. She tilted her head, drinking in the vastness as they glided between balconies and spires.
The gardens opened below,cascades of blossoms pouring in pale waterfalls, their fragrance rising to greet the night. She inhaled, sweetness filling her lungs. Yet threaded among them were blackened trees, bark twisted into faces of agony. Their silent screams hung in the air, swallowed by the perfume.
Above the gardens, where the four pillars met, the Throne Room loomed suspended. Its stained glass shimmered faintly, its mass hovering like a frozen heart between heaven and earth.
Seraphina's hand reached unconsciously toward it, though only air lay between. One day we will stand there. He the king, I his queen. The heart of this palace will be ours.
"You always take me when I'm not ready," she whispered against the rushing wind.
"That's the point," he said with a laugh. "You only see the truth when you're too high to look away."
The words dissolved. The memory dissolved.
Seraphina blinked, and she was alone again barefoot on the balcony, the rain-soaked marble cold against her skin.
Her hand clenched the railing, trembling. Her voice cracked into the night.
"Why her, Alaric? Why choose a vermin over a royal?"
Her breath splintered. The jeweled glass behind her threw back her reflection,eyes hollow and hair plastered dark across her face.
The clouds shifted. The moon slipped away. The memory slid back into shadow.
But the scent of blossoms and mud lingered.