I've lost track of time. All I know is that I can't take it anymore. The same walls. The same stone. The same suffocating silence. My room feels smaller with every passing hour, closing in on me like a trap. I can hardly breathe.Kael's gone for now. I don't know where he is, and honestly, I don't care. The quiet, however, is unbearable. I need to get out.
I slip out of the room quietly, careful not to make a sound. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I can't keep staring at these stone walls, at the same four corners, any longer.
The castle is eerily still, the halls echoing with my footsteps, no servants or guards in sight. It's just me and the silence.
I move swiftly, heart pounding as I round a corner and freeze. Voices. Two of them. One unmistakably familiar. The King.
I press myself against the wall, holding my breath, straining to hear.
"... the Well of Danu is gone," the King's voice cuts through the silence. "But that means nothing. The power is still here—hidden in the land, in the people. It's just harder to access."
A second voice, uncertain, responds. "But Your Majesty, the villagers—they've lost everything. No magic. They're already drained."
The King scoffs. "Drained? Of course they have nothing. I've taken it from them—every drop. The lower Seelie, the peasants, they have no power left to draw from. I've already siphoned it all."
I feel my stomach churn. Taken? The villagers we passed through in that Seelie town—they weren't just losing their magic. He stole it from them.
"And the Unseelie?" the other voice hesitates.
"They're worse than useless. The Unseelie are nothing but beasts. I'll take whatever I can from them too. Everything. Their power, their magic—they'll all serve me. All of them. And when I'm done? I'll be unstoppable."
I grit my teeth, my blood running cold. The King is using the power of the Seelie peasants, draining them to make himself stronger. The magic they had left—gone. Just like that. That's why the villagers were so weak. And he doesn't stop there. He's after the Unseelie too, treating them as little more than animals, draining their power like a predator.
The advisor hesitates. "But Kael...?"
The King's laugh is bitter, full of disdain. "Kael? He's a beast too, but a useful one. I'll use him as long as I need him, and then... he'll be discarded."
The King's words hit me like a slap. Kael's nothing to him. Just a tool, like the rest of us. The King's thoughts on Kael make my chest tighten, a knot forming in my stomach. Kael... his own blood, his own flesh—and this is how the King sees him?
I try to back away quietly, but my foot catches on something—loose stone. The sound echoes down the hall.
The King's voice snaps, sharp and cold. "Someone's there."
I don't hesitate. I spin on my heel, my pulse in my throat, and I run.
My heart's pounding as I round the corner, not looking back, not daring to. I don't know where I'm going—only away. Away from the voices, away from the King's cruel plans.
But I don't get far before something solid stops me. A hand grips my wrist before I can even think. I freeze.
Kael's voice is low, demanding. "Where do you think you're going?"
I fight against his hold, pulling against him, trying to break free. "Let go of me."
His grip tightens, and my heart races, the panic rising. Without thinking, the wild magic I've kept hidden bursts free. It's like a snap of thunder, raw and untamed, sending Kael flying back across the hall, slamming him into the stone wall with a thud.
YOU ARE READING
The Siege of Shadows: Book one
FantasyBook one of The Veil of Danu Series Spice 🌶️ Adventure ⚔️⚔️⚔️ In a world divided by the fragile balance between light and wildness, the Seelie and Unseelie fae have lived in uneasy harmony for centuries, separated from humanity by the magical Vei...