Chapter 2.5: The Broken Mirror
"I must speak with the Seneschal regarding the supply wagons for tomorrow," Duke Astra said, his voice a warm balm that felt entirely out of place in the shivering air of the garden. He patted Seraphina's hand one last time. "I leave you in the hands of the Empire's finest. Do try to enjoy the sunlight, my star."
He walked toward the manor, his footsteps fading until the heavy oak doors clicked shut.
The moment the the Duke was gone, the mask of the garden shattered. The sunlight seemed to lose its warmth, and the silence became jagged.
Eveline stood up slowly. Her white robes, usually pristine, seemed to hang off her skeletal frame. Her eyes were rimmed with a raw, angry red. She looked at Seraphina, and for a moment, the Saintess vanished, replaced by a terrified girl who had been dragged into the dark.
"Sera..." Eveline whispered. Her voice was a dry rattle.
Suddenly, Eveline lunged forward. She didn't move with the grace of a holy woman; she moved with the desperation of someone who had spent her final days screaming into silence. She threw her arms around Seraphina, burying her face in Seraphina's neck, her body racking with violent, uncontrollable sobs.
"I'm so sorry," Eveline wailed, her tears hot and soaking through Seraphina's dress. "They took me... I couldn't get away... it was so cold, Sera, and the blood wouldn't stop—I thought I would never see your face again!"
She didn't mention how she also suffered, how she knew exactly how Seraphina is feeling for both of them experienced a tragic death. She didn't mention the tree she was hanged, how from a woman loved by everyon to a witch that is blinded by greed and hated and cursed by all. She just clung to Seraphina as if she were the only thing keeping her from falling back into the place where those people had broken her.
But Seraphina flinched. As Eveline's arms wrapped around her, Seraphina didn't feel the warmth of a best friend. She felt the iron grip of her murderer. She felt the weight of the chains. Her body turned to ice, and she recoiled with a violent, instinctive shove.
"Don't touch me!" Seraphina shrieked.
Eveline stumbled back, her hands flying to her own throat as she nearly fell onto the gravel. She looked at Seraphina with a shattered expression, her tear-stained face pale with shock. "Sera? It's me... it's Eveline..."
"I said, don't!" Seraphina hissed, her emerald eyes blown wide, her breathing coming in jagged gasps. She was clutching her own arms, her gaze darting to Eveline's hands as if expecting to see a knife or a hot iron.
Alaric let out a low, pained groan. He took a step toward Eveline, his hand trembling he helped Eveline stand. His Power surged and became uncontrollable they all felt suffocating pressure that made the flowers in the nearby pots begin to wilt. He looked at the two women he had failed to save, and the mana in his veins felt like liquid lead.
"Stop it,please " Killian begged, his voice cutting through the hysteria like a blade. He hadn't moved from the fountain, but his crimson eyes were burning with a weary, bloodshot intensity. "Look at yourselves,the way you are acting will send them back to their graves."
Killian walked over, his heavy boots crunching the gravel with a sound that made both women jump. He stood between them, his shadow falling over Eveline.
"Lady Eveline ,'" Killian said, his voice cold but his eyes flickering with a hint of shared agony. "And Lady Astra . If the Duke walks back out here right now, he won't see just see his daughter and the saintess.' He will see two madwomen and a Knight who looks like he's ready to commit a massacre."
Eveline wiped her face with her sleeve, her hands still shaking. She looked at Seraphina—who was still backed against a stone pillar, trembling—and then at Killian.
"It wasn't a nightmare," Eveline whispered, her voice a hollow shell of itself. "The men in the masks... the way they laughed while they—" She stopped, her voice catching as the Scar of Silence on her neck began to pulse with a faint, violet light.
Killian looked at the scar, then at Seraphina's defensive stance, then at Alaric's pained expression.
"I know," Killian said, his voice dropping to a whisper that only the four of them could hear. "I know because I saw the aftermath. I know because I saw the empty dungeon . And if we don't start acting like we're alive, we're all going to end up back dying all over again and i can't go through it again"