...The night before the Vow ceremony, the High Keep slept restlessly....
...Rain lashed against the tower windows like the gods were trying to get in. Thunder rolled across the mountains, low and angry, as if echoing a warning that no one dared speak aloud....
...Everyone had retreated. The council chambers were silent. The priests in the east wing fasted and prayed. Even the castle servants moved like ghosts through the halls, carrying linens and coal with bowed heads and hushed steps....
...Only one figure walked with purpose....
...Corin kept his cloak pulled tight and the hood low over his face as he descended into the lower keep. He took the narrow servant’s stairway unwarded, unguarded, and mostly forgotten. He’d discovered it years ago when he was still young enough to sneak away from lessons and hide in the old library....
...Now, he used it to sneak toward something far more dangerous....
...Someone, his mind corrected. Not something....
...Silas....
...He wasn’t sure what he hoped to find. Clarity? Courage? Maybe just a reason to breathe....
...The key in his pocket felt heavier than before, as if it too knew the weight of what he was about to do....
...The hall outside Silas’s cell was quiet. No guards tonight he’d timed it for the changing of the watch. He stood there for a moment, hand on the key, listening....
...Not for danger....
...But for doubt....
...And when he heard none only the soft hum of the wards etched into the stone, he slid the key into the lock....
...The door creaked open slowly....
...The cell was exactly as he’d left it, dark, cold, and impossibly quiet. Torchlight from the hall spilled across the floor like spilled gold. Silas sat in the same position cross-legged, back against the far wall, hair falling like moonlight around his face....
...But this time, he looked up before Corin spoke....
...“You came back,” Silas said simply....
...No surprise. No mockery. Just… fact....
...Corin stepped inside and closed the door behind him....
...“I shouldn’t be here.”...
...“Then why are you?”...
Because I’m afraid the Vow will choose you to die.
...Because I can’t sleep with your voice in my head....
Because I need to understand why you don’t hate me.
...“I wanted to ask you something,” Corin said instead....
...Silas tilted his head. “Ask.”...
...“What do you see… when you look at me?”...
...Silas blinked, slowly. “Do you want the truth?”...
...“Yes.”...
...The mage nodded once, then shifted. His manacles rattled as he moved....
...“I see a boy trying to wear a crown made of knives. I see someone who bleeds behind his eyes. Someone who hates what the world has asked him to become.”...
...Corin felt something twist in his chest....
...“You see all that?”...
...“I’ve seen you, Corin. Not just now. In dreams. In visions.” His voice was calm, but something behind his words trembled. “I’ve seen you fall. I’ve seen you stand back up. I’ve seen you scream at gods who never answered.”...
...Silas looked up, and for a moment, his eyes burned like twin stars one violet, one gold....
...“I’ve seen you die for me.”...
...Corin froze....
...“Die for you?”...
...“It hasn’t happened. Yet. But it might.” Silas lowered his gaze. “You wrote the Council. Offered your life, didn’t you?”...
...The air in the cell seemed to thin....
...Corin’s throat tightened. “How..."...
...“I didn’t read your letter,” Silas said. “I felt it. Like a shift in the thread. Like the moment a blade decides where to fall.”...
...Corin exhaled shakily and sat on the floor across from him....
...“I don’t want your death,” he said. “Not if there’s another way.”...
...“There isn’t.”...
...“You sound so sure.”...
...“I’ve lived in the mouth of prophecy my whole life,” Silas said, voice barely above a whisper. “Every version ends with me burning.”...
...Corin leaned forward, elbows on his knees....
...“Then we make a new version.”...
...Silas laughed once, a small, bitter sound....
...“That’s not how fate works.”...
...“Maybe not,” Corin said. “But it’s how I work.”...
...They sat in silence after that. Long, stretching silence, the kind that feels like the world holding its breath....
...Eventually, Corin spoke again....
...“You don’t look afraid.”...
...“I told you,” Silas said. “I’m not afraid of death.”...
...Corin nodded slowly. “Then what are you afraid of?”...
...Silas hesitated....
...“You,” he said quietly....
...That made Corin’s heart stop....
...“Why me?”...
...“Because you’re kind,” Silas said, as if it were a terrible sin. “Because when you look at me, you don’t see a curse. You see a choice. And if you choose me… I won’t be able to survive it.”...
...Corin swallowed hard....
...“I’m not noble,” he said....
...“I know.”...
...“I’m not brave.”...
...“You are,” Silas said. “But that’s not the problem.”...
...Corin studied him. His bruised wrists, the raw edges of the glyphs, the weary line of his shoulders....
...He had power. So much of it. But no freedom. No future. Just a gilded cage lined with fire....
...Corin stood slowly and crossed the room....
...Silas tensed as he knelt beside him but didn’t flinch....
...Corin reached out. Carefully. Gently. His fingers brushed Silas’s wrist, tracing the edge of one glowing glyph. It sparked faintly beneath his touch....
...Silas shivered....
...“You should rest,” Corin said....
...Silas closed his eyes. “I don’t sleep anymore. I just… wait.”...
...“For what?”...
...Silas opened his eyes....
...“For the end. Or for someone to stop it.”...
...Corin stayed there a moment longer....
...Then he stood and left the cell without another word....
...But as the door closed behind him, Silas whispered to the dark.....
..."You were never meant to save me, Prince."...
..."But I think you might try anyway."...
..."And that would be enough to unravel everything."...
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 11 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments