ELARA'S POV
The purple fire hit my tower window and simply... stopped.
I pressed against the glass, watching in disbelief as the poison flames spread across the stone walls around my room but never touched the window itself. Like an invisible barrier protected this one spot.
Magic. Someone had warded my prison.
Below, Cassian's voice rang out, commanding soldiers to form defensive positions. Steel clashed against steel. Men screamed.
And Vex stood in the center of it all, laughing.
I pounded on the window. "Let me out! I can help!"
No one heard me. Or if they did, they ignored the witch in the tower.
The shadows around my hands writhed, responding to my frustration. They wanted out. Wanted to fight. Wanted to show Vex exactly what chaos magic could do.
But I was locked in a cage while my captor fought my enemies.
The door burst open behind me.
I spun, expecting Cassian or guards. Instead, Mira rushed in, her face flushed from running.
"Away from the window!" she shouted. "Now!"
"But Vex is—"
"I know!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me away just as the poison fire intensified outside. The ward shimmered, holding but straining. "That's why Cassian sent me to get you somewhere safer."
"This is supposed to be the safest place!"
"It was, until your former councilor decided to attack during breakfast." Mira steered me toward the door. "Come on, there's a chamber deeper in the castle that—"
An explosion shook the tower. Part of the ceiling cracked, raining dust and small stones.
Mira swore. "Or we could just stay here and hope the whole thing doesn't collapse. Wonderful options."
Despite everything, I almost smiled. Her dry humor reminded me of my friend back home—the other Mira who was probably dead or imprisoned now.
My almost-smile died.
"The fighting," I said as another crash echoed from below. "How bad is it?"
"Bad enough that Cassian's using language that would make soldiers blush." She guided me to sit on the bed, then crossed to the breakfast tray Anna had left. "But he's handled worse. Vex brought maybe twenty fighters. Cassian has two hundred guards in this castle alone."
"Twenty can do a lot of damage with poison fire."
"True." She picked up the tray and brought it over. "Which is why you need to eat and keep your strength up. If they breach the castle, you'll need energy to defend yourself."
I stared at the food—still warm somehow, despite the chaos. "I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten in four days."
"Three days," I corrected automatically.
"Anna said you didn't touch yesterday's breakfast. That makes four." Mira sat beside me, the tray balanced on her lap. "Look, I get it. You're grieving. You're angry. You're scared. Starving yourself feels like the only control you have left."
"You don't get it," I said coldly. "You're not a prisoner."
"You're right, I'm not." Her voice softened. "But I watched my cousin starve himself after his brother died. Watched him waste away because eating felt like accepting that Darian was really gone. It didn't hurt the people responsible—just hurt him."
Something in her tone made me look at her closer. "You loved him. Darian."
"Like a brother." She picked up a piece of bread and held it out. "He used to sneak extra desserts to me when I was young. Said a girl needed sweetness in a castle this dark." Her hand trembled slightly. "Your council took that from me. From Cassian. From everyone who loved him."
I took the bread, though my stomach churned at the thought of eating. "I didn't know. About any of it. I was supposed to be queen, and I didn't even know my own councilors were murderers."
"That's not your fault."
"Isn't it?" The bread crumbled in my grip. "I trusted them. Let them handle things while I focused on festivals and diplomatic dinners. I was blind."
"You were young." Mira took the bread back and handed me a piece of cheese instead. "Twenty-one when you were crowned, right? They had decades of experience manipulating rulers. You never stood a chance."
Another explosion rattled the windows. The fighting was getting closer.
"Eat," Mira urged. "Please. Cassian will kill me if I let you waste away on my watch."
"Why does he care?" I bit off a tiny piece of cheese, forcing myself to swallow. "I'm just bait to him. A trap for the councilors."
Mira's expression turned thoughtful. "Is that what you think?"
"It's what he told me."
"He tells himself a lot of things." She poured tea from a silver pot. "Tells himself he's cold and calculating. That he only kept you alive for strategic reasons. That protecting you is just good tactics."
"And?" I took the tea cup, the warmth seeping into my shadow-wrapped hands.
"And he's lying to himself." She met my eyes. "I've known Cassian my whole life. Watched him become harder after Darian died, watched him build walls around his heart. But the way he looks at you..." She shook her head. "That's not strategy. That's something else."
My heart did a strange flutter that I immediately squashed. "You're imagining things."
"Am I? He personally warded this room. Not the court wizard—him. He spent three hours casting protective spells around your tower because he couldn't trust anyone else to do it right."
I thought about the poison fire stopping at my window. Cassian's magic, protecting me even while he fought below.
"That doesn't mean anything," I said, but my voice wavered.
"Keep telling yourself that." Mira stood, picking up the tray. "I need to check on the fighting. Stay here, stay away from the windows, and for the love of all that's holy, eat something."
"Wait." I grabbed her wrist before she could leave. "The rules. You were supposed to explain the rules of my captivity."
Her face fell. "Right. The rules."
"Let me guess—I can't leave this room without armed guards. Can't contact anyone from Luminveil. Can't use magic except under supervision. Can't sneeze without permission."
"Close." She set the tray down again. "You can't leave the castle grounds without Cassian's explicit approval. You must attend all court functions—dinners, councils, ceremonies. You're to be visible, a symbol of Ashencourt's dominance."
My stomach turned. "A trophy."
"A deterrent," Mira corrected gently. "If your people see you alive and treated well, they're less likely to rebel. If they think you're being tortured or killed, they'll riot."
"So I'm supposed to smile and pretend I'm happy while my kingdom suffers?"
"You're supposed to survive." Mira's voice turned hard. "And help your people survive too. You think they want their queen martyred? They want you alive, Elara. Even if it means you're here."
I wanted to argue, but the shadows around my hands pulsed in agreement. Deep down, I knew she was right.
"Why did he do it?" I whispered. "Why destroy my kingdom? Even if the councilors were guilty, why hurt innocent people?"
Mira's expression shuttered closed like a door slamming. "You should ask your council that question."
"They're not here to ask."
"No, but they left plenty of evidence behind." She moved toward the door. "When you're ready to see the truth, ask Cassian to show you the letters. The confessions. The proof of what your 'innocent' government did to us."
"Mira, wait—"
But she was already gone, the door locking with that now-familiar click.
I sat alone with the half-eaten breakfast, my mind spinning.
What letters? What proof?
Below, the sounds of fighting finally stopped. Either Cassian had won, or Vex had.
I ran to the window. The purple fire was gone. Bodies littered the courtyard—mostly Vex's fighters, from what I could see. Cassian's soldiers were regrouping, tending to wounded.
But where was Cassian? Where was Vex?
Movement caught my eye—a figure climbing the outside of my tower. Scaling the wall like a spider, moving impossibly fast.
Vex.
He looked up, and our eyes met through the glass. His smile was pure poison.
The ward protecting my window flickered once. Twice.
Then shattered completely.
Vex crashed through in an explosion of glass and magic, landing in a crouch on my floor. Purple fire wreathed his hands.
"Hello, Your Majesty," he purred. "Time to finish what we started."
I backed toward the door, shadows exploding around my hands. "Stay back!"
"Or what? You'll hit me with your untrained chaos magic?" He laughed. "I've been studying forbidden magic for twenty years. You've had it for four days. This will be quick."
He raised his hands, and poison fire bloomed.
I threw up my shadow-wrapped hands instinctively, expecting to die.
Instead, the shadows shot forward like living spears.
They punched through Vex's fire, through his hastily raised shield, and wrapped around his throat.
We both froze, shocked.
"Impossible," Vex choked out. "You can't have this much control already..."
I couldn't. I didn't. The shadows had acted on their own, defending me.
And now they wanted to squeeze.
I felt their hunger, their desire to crush the life from the man who'd murdered my parents. It would be so easy. Just let go. Let the shadows do what they wanted.
"Elara, NO!"
Cassian burst through the door, taking in the scene—me with shadows choking Vex, broken glass everywhere, poison fire still flickering on the walls.
"Let him go," Cassian commanded. "We need him alive for questioning."
"He killed my parents," I said, my voice not quite my own. The shadows squeezed tighter.
"I know." Cassian moved closer slowly, like approaching a wild animal. "And he'll pay for that. But not like this. Not with you becoming a murderer."
"He deserves it!"
"Yes." Cassian was right beside me now. "But you deserve better than carrying his death on your conscience."
His hand covered mine—warm skin against shadow-wrapped fingers.
The touch jolted through me like lightning. The shadows hesitated.
"Let me have him," Cassian said quietly. "Let me give you justice the right way."
I looked at Vex's purpling face, at the terror in his eyes.
Then I looked at Cassian, and saw not a conqueror but someone who understood what it meant to want revenge.
Slowly, painfully, I pulled the shadows back.
Vex collapsed, gasping.
Cassian's guards rushed in, binding Vex with chains that glowed with suppression magic.
As they dragged him away, Vex looked back at me one last time.
"You can't suppress it forever," he rasped. "The chaos magic will consume you. Just like it consumed his mother. Just like it consumes everyone who—"
A guard hit him, cutting off his words.
But the damage was done.
I turned to Cassian. "Your mother. How did she die?"
His face went carefully blank. "That's not—"
"How?" I demanded.
He was silent for a long moment. Then, so quietly I almost didn't hear: "The chaos magic grew too strong. She couldn't control it. It burned her from the inside out until there was nothing left but ash and shadows."
My blood turned to ice.
"How long?" I whispered. "How long did she have before it killed her?"
Cassian's eyes met mine, and I saw the truth before he spoke.
"Six months. From awakening to death—six months."
I'd had the magic for four days.
Which meant I had less than six months to live.