Lily
The palace felt wrong. I didn't know how else to describe it. The air was too still, the kind of silence that presses against your skin like something is watching and waiting. I sat curled on the wide windowsill of my chamber, knees to my chest, the moon casting pale light over the stone floor. Even the wind had stopped. Not a single leaf rustled in the garden below. I couldn't shake the feeling. Something was off.
Earlier that day, I'd tried to focus on my herbs, my work, anything to distract myself from the storm that was building inside me. But even my hands had trembled. The whispers, the stares, the strange accidents around me, they were becoming harder to dismiss.
And tonight? The quiet didn't feel peaceful. It felt dangerous. I exhaled slowly and let my mind drift but not far, just enough to feel for him. Elis. I could always find him. There was this… golden thread between us, something unseen but alive, vibrating when he was near and pulsing when he was far. But tonight, it was muted. Like the thread was frayed. I tried again, reaching deeper, focusing on the bond we shared. Nothing. Not silence but worse. Emptiness.
My breath caught in my throat. That had never happened before. Even during his worst days, even when he was surrounded by council or rage or fear, I could always feel something. Now, there was just… absence. I pressed a hand over my heart. "Elis," I whispered. "Where are you?"
And then…A scream. It cut through the night like a blade. Not a woman's voice, not a servant's. But a guard, trained, hardened and terrified. I was already on my feet before my mind caught up. My cloak hung on the wall. I yanked it down with shaking hands and flung it over my shoulders. My door slammed open before I touched the handle. Sara stood there, breathless, her eyes wide.
"The king…" she gasped. "Something's wrong."
I didn't wait for the rest. My feet hit the hallway stone hard. I ran. The corridors were too quiet and empty. I passed a maid crouched behind a pillar, trembling, her eyes wide with fear. She didn't speak. Another scream echoed, closer this time. I nearly slipped as I turned the corner, heart pounding, my blood roaring in my ears. I didn't even know where I was going, only that I had to get to him. That if I didn't, something terrible would happen.
The palace, usually warm with golden light, felt colder now. Shadows stretched long and unnatural across the floors. I passed a tapestry and swore I saw it move, just slightly, as if someone had brushed against it. Don't think. Just move. The door to his chamber loomed ahead, cracked open.
I didn't pause. "ELIS!" I burst inside. What I saw made my breath catch in my throat. He was there…standing, breathing but not alone. The room was dim, lit only by the fire in the hearth. And in front of him stood something…a person. Not exactly.
It was a figure cloaked in shadows, hunched and whispering, its voice like smoke curling through the air. Elis didn't move. He just stared ahead, expression blank, his eyes flickering gold and fighting something I couldn't see.
"Elis!" I shouted again. The shadow turned toward me. The air grew colder. My knees almost buckled under the pressure of the darkness, like a storm of claws scraping through my mind. I felt its attention shift to me like a hand closing around my throat. But then, something inside me surged. That strange warmth I had felt in the courtyard. The spark in my fingertips. The wind that listened when I was angry. It rose. I stepped forward, eyes locked on the thing.
"You don't belong here," I said quietly.
The shadow hissed. The fire in the hearth flared, then flickered wildly. My hands were trembling. I didn't know what I was doing. But I felt it, the bond between us snapping back to life, like Elis's soul had recognized mine. "Elis," I said again, softer this time.
His head turned toward me. And suddenly, the room cracked. The shadow shrieked, and the flame burst upward, blinding for a second. The pressure vanished. The darkness fled. And Elis staggered back, catching himself against the wall. He blinked rapidly, like waking from a dream. "Lily…?"
I rushed to him, my arms wrapping around his waist, my cheek pressed to his chest. His heartbeat was wild, but he was there. Real. Alive. "I thought I lost you," I whispered.
"You brought me back," he murmured, his voice raw. "I couldn't see, couldn't think. And then…your voice…"
We stayed like that for a long time, wrapped in silence, the flames crackling softly beside us. But in the back of my mind, one truth echoed louder than anything else. Something had entered this palace. And it was hunting us both.
Elis
The moment I stepped into her chamber, the air shifted. Moonlight bled through the window, illuminating her like some untouchable vision…barefoot, wrapped in nothing but a sheer nightdress, hair loose and falling in soft waves down her back. A small satchel hung from her fingers, trembling. She hadn't heard me come in.
But Eunice did. She glanced at me briefly, her eyes wide, then bowed out silently, as if she'd been waiting for this confrontation. Lily turned. Her eyes widened with guilt. Fear and defiance.
"You were leaving," I said, my voice low, almost foreign to my own ears.
She froze like a deer cornered by a predator. "Elis…"
"Don't." I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. Quietly and intentionally. I could feel the heat of her body even from across the space between us. "You will not leave this palace."
Her eyes narrowed. "I have to. You don't understand…something's happening to me, and no one seems to see it. No one can help me." She said nervously.
My fists clenched at my sides. "Then talk to me. Let me be the one who can help you."
"It's not that simple," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I'm losing control. I hear whispers in the walls, feel shadows brushing against my skin. My dreams… Elis, I see fire. Blood. And things I don't understand."
I closed the distance, slow and deliberate, until I could hear the hitch in her breath. I didn't reach for her, not yet. I needed her to see the storm she was walking through. "You think running will fix that? Out there, you'll be alone. Vulnerable." My voice dropped. "Do you have any idea what I would do if something happened to you?"
She raised her chin, proud even in fear. "This isn't about you."
"The hell it isn't," I growled. A beat of silence pulsed between us. She blinked rapidly. I saw it…the tremble in her lip, the fear she tried so hard to bury beneath that brave exterior. The same fear I lived with daily. Not for myself. For her. "If you insist on going," I said, my voice softening, "then I'll go with you."
Her breath caught. I watched her defenses crumble, just a little. "You'd do that?"
"You shouldn't have to face this alone," I said, finally reaching up, brushing a strand of hair from her face. My fingers lingered on her cheek. "You drive me mad, Lily. Do you know that?" She gave the faintest shake of her head. "You frustrate me. You defy me at every turn. You make me feel… things I thought were dead in me." I leaned in, my mouth a breath from hers. "And yet I can't stay away from you."
Her lips parted. I didn't wait for an invitation. I kissed her like a man starved. All the tension, the worry, the madness of the night melted away under the heat of her mouth. She clung to me like I was her anchor, her salvation, and goddess help me, I wanted to be.
I backed her toward the bed, my hands memorizing every curve of her waist, her hips. Her skin was fire beneath my palms, her breath a symphony against my neck. "Mine," I breathed against her lips.
Her response was a whispered echo. "Yours." And when she fell back on the bed, pulling me down with her, I let the world fall away. For that moment, there was no kingdom. No duty. No Zeena. No war. Only us. Only her.
The Next Morning The sky had barely shifted from night to day, but I was already dressed, my crown resting heavy on my head. From the balcony of the Great Hall, I looked down upon the assembled guards, advisors, and servants. Word had traveled quickly, thats good. Let them whisper that their king was about to silence the kingdom.
I needed them to listen. To fear. Eunice's words echoed in my head like a bell toll: If you don't do something about the wild gossip going around the palace, you will lose that girl. I gripped the balustrade. I would not lose Lily.
My voice rang out over the courtyard, unwavering. "From this day forward, anyone caught spreading rumours of any kind, within this palace or throughout Marlick Kingdom… will be executed." gasps. Wide eyes. A ripple of panic. Exactly what I wanted. "Consider this your only warning," I continued. "Lies are poison. And I will not allow my house, my throne, or the woman I…" I stopped myself. Too much. Too soon. "I will not allow Marlick to rot from the inside."
Silence stretched across the courtyard. Not a whisper. Not a breath. They understood. But somewhere below, in the shadows, I sensed her. Zeena. I didn't need to see her to know she was there…watching and seething. I could feel her hatred like a dagger in the dark. You can spread whispers, Zeena. Plot. Scheme. But you will not take her from me. I turned and walked back inside, knowing the storm wasn't over. It was just beginning.