Elara's POV
I wait until midnight before I make my move.
The palace is quieter at night, but not silent. I can hear guards patrolling the hallways, their boots echoing on stone floors. Somewhere distant, someone is crying. The palace feels even more alive in the darkness, like it's watching me.
I slip out of bed fully dressed. I never took off my clothes, knowing I'd need to move fast.
The door to my room isn't locked—Asheron said I wasn't a prisoner. But there are two guards standing outside. I can see their shadows under the door.
I need a distraction.
I grab a heavy book from the shelf and throw it across the room. It crashes against the far wall with a loud bang.
"What was that?" one guard says.
"Check on the girl."
The door opens. Both guards step inside, looking around for the source of the noise.
I'm already moving.
I slip past them while their backs are turned, using a trick I learned in the Outer Districts—move fast, stay low, don't breathe. I'm down the hallway before they even realize I'm gone.
Behind me, I hear shouting. "The healer! She's escaped!"
I run.
The palace is a maze of corridors and staircases. I have no idea where the black cells are, but I know they're down. Underground. So I take every staircase that leads deeper into darkness.
Guards are mobilizing. I hear their shouts echoing through the halls. Boots pounding. Orders being barked.
I duck into a side corridor just as a squad of soldiers rushes past. My heart hammers so hard I think they'll hear it.
I keep going down. Down, down, down.
The air gets colder. Damper. The walls change from polished stone to rough rock. The torches become fewer and farther between. This is the old part of the palace. The part nobody talks about.
Finally, I reach a massive iron door with two guards standing in front of it.
The black cells.
I press myself against the wall, thinking fast. I can't fight two armed guards. I'm a healer, not a warrior.
But I have magic.
I gather my power carefully, letting shadow magic pool in my hands. Then I throw it forward like a wave.
The guards collapse instantly, unconscious. Shadow magic is good for that—knocking people out without killing them.
I drag their bodies to the side and grab the keys from one guard's belt. My hands shake as I unlock the massive door.
It swings open with a groan that sounds like a scream.
Beyond is darkness. Complete, absolute darkness that even my eyes can't penetrate.
I create a small ball of light in my palm—just enough to see by. The glow illuminates a narrow stone staircase leading down into nothing.
I take a deep breath and start descending.
The stairs go on forever. With each step, the air gets thicker, harder to breathe. I can smell rot and despair and old blood. This is where they put people to forget about them.
At the bottom is a corridor lined with cells. Iron bars crusted with rust. Floors slick with water or worse.
Most cells are empty. Some contain skeletons still chained to walls.
I move from cell to cell, my light casting shadows that dance like ghosts. My voice comes out as a whisper, terrified of what I might find.
"Papa? Papa, are you here?"
Nothing.
Cell after cell, empty or filled with corpses. Despair starts crushing my chest. What if he's not here? What if he's been dead for five years and I've been hoping for nothing?
Then I reach the last cell.
And I see him.
He's alive. Barely.
My father is chained to the wall, his body so thin I can see every bone. His hair is long and matted. His clothes are rags. But his eyes—when they open and see me—are still his eyes.
"Elara?" His voice is a rasp, like he hasn't spoken in months. "No. No, you can't be here. It's a trap. They'll kill you—"
"I'm getting you out." I'm already working on the locks with magic, breaking them one by one. The chains fall away.
My father collapses into my arms. He weighs nothing. I can feel every bone through his skin.
"How long?" I whisper. "How long have you been down here?"
"Five years. Since the night they killed your mother." He's crying now. "I tried to save her. Tried to tell the king the truth. But Seraphine—she had me arrested. Thrown down here. Said I'd never see daylight again."
"What truth? What did Mom discover?"
My father grabs my shoulders with what little strength he has. "The king's curse. It's not natural. Someone created it. Someone's been feeding it, making it stronger, keeping him weak and controllable."
Ice runs through my veins. "Who?"
"Seraphine. She's been poisoning him for years. Small doses of dark magic mixed into his food, his wine. It accumulates, eating him from inside. The assassination wasn't meant to kill him—it was meant to accelerate the process. Make him desperate enough to—"
He stops, staring at me with horror.
"Make him desperate enough to bring in a healer he wouldn't normally trust," I finish, understanding flooding through me. "Someone with forbidden magic. Someone she could blame when he eventually dies."
"You," my father whispers. "She's using you as her scapegoat. When the king dies, she'll say you poisoned him. She'll have you executed as a traitor, just like your mother. And with both of us gone, there's no one left who knows the truth."
The pieces click into place with terrifying clarity.
Seraphine didn't let me live out of mercy. She kept me hidden so she could use me when the time was right. She probably even arranged for the Shadow Guard to "discover" me.
Everything has been part of her plan.
"We have to warn the king," I say, helping my father stand. "We have to—"
"Warn me about what?"
I spin around.
Asheron is standing at the entrance to the cells. His face is emotionless, unreadable. Behind him are a dozen guards with swords drawn.
And beside him, smiling like a cat who caught a mouse, is Seraphine.
"Well," she says sweetly. "Isn't this touching? A family reunion. Though I'm afraid it will be short-lived."
Asheron's eyes are completely black again—no trace of the silver-blue I saw earlier. His expression is cold, hard, the face of the tyrant from the stories.
"Elara Veylan," he says flatly. "You were told to stay in your room. You assaulted my guards. You broke into the most secure prison in the kingdom. And now I find you with a convicted traitor, whispering about poisoning the king."
"No! It's not what it looks like—"
"It looks like exactly what Lady Seraphine warned me about," Asheron interrupts. "A conspiracy. The daughter coming to rescue her father so they can finish what they started five years ago."
Seraphine steps forward, her smile widening. "I tried to tell you, Your Majesty. The Veylans have always been traitors. The mother, the father, now the daughter. It's in their blood."
"You're lying!" I shout. "You're the one who's been poisoning him! You killed my mother because she found out! You kept my father prisoner to silence him!"
"Proof?" Seraphine asks calmly. "Do you have any proof of these wild accusations? Or are you simply desperate to save yourself?"
I look at Asheron, pleading with my eyes. "Please. You said you trusted me. You said—"
"I said many things when I was dying and desperate." His voice is ice. "But I'm thinking clearly now. And the evidence is clear. You used forbidden magic to get close to me. You healed me just enough to gain my trust. And tonight you tried to free your traitor father to help you finish the job."
"That's not true! Feel our bond! You said you could feel my emotions through it—"
"I feel anger. Desperation. Deception." He turns to his guards. "Arrest them both. Put them in separate cells. We'll hold a trial at dawn."
Guards surge forward. I try to fight, try to use my magic, but there are too many. They grab my arms, my father's arms, tearing us apart.
"No!" my father screams. "Your Majesty, please! The real traitor is standing beside you! She's been poisoning you for years! Check your food! Check your wine! Test it for dark magic residue!"
But Asheron isn't listening. He's already turning away, Seraphine at his side.
As they drag me past her, Seraphine leans in close and whispers so only I can hear:
"Your mother begged too. Right before I slit her throat myself." Her smile is beautiful and poisonous. "Tomorrow, you'll beg just like she did. And just like her, no one will save you."
They throw me into a cell and slam the door shut.
I collapse on the cold stone floor, my whole body shaking.
I came here to save my father.
Instead, I walked straight into Seraphine's trap.
And tomorrow at dawn, she's going to execute us both while the man I saved watches and believes we're the enemy.
Unless I can find a way to prove the truth.
In the next six hours.
From inside a locked cell.
With no magic, no allies, and no hope.