Arastella POV
The afternoon breeze carried the crisp, sweet scent of garden roses, but it did nothing to clear the heavy fog in my mind. I sat at a carved stone table in the center of the royal gardens, my chin resting in my hand as I stared aimlessly out toward the horizon—daydreaming about the Void. I wondered how my father was faring in that dark expanse, whether he was still fighting, or if he was simply waiting for the inevitable end.
Beside me, one maid quietly arranged a spread of fresh fruit and pastries while another poured warm tea into a cup. Behind my chair stood two imposing palace guards, their hands resting on their swords like statues of iron.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps crunched against the gravel path. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Cion approached the table, his presence rot-like as ever. Stepping right behind him was Kiono.
"Greetings, Your Majesty," Cion drawled, offering a dramatic, mocking bow.
I didn't answer him. I simply turned my head, fixing him with a look of disdain. But when my gaze flicked to Kiono, my brows knit together. Something about him had completely shifted. The subtle tension he usually carried, the lingering hesitation in his posture it was all gone. He stood there rigid, staring back at me with a cold, hollow air that sent a chill straight down my spine.
"Leave us," I commanded flatly.
The maids and guards didn't second-guess me. They bowed low and hurried away down the stone path, leaving the three of us in absolute silence.
Cion stepped closer to the table, leaning his hands against the stone. "In the next few months, you must gain his full trust."
"Why is that?" I snapped back, my tone dry.
"Because you will be the one holding the weapon that will kill him," Cion replied with a sickening, razor-sharp smile.
A tiny, bitter smile touched my own lips at the thought of Castel's blood on my hands, but my focus quickly drifted back to the man standing behind him. Kiono hadn't moved a muscle. He hadn't spoken, hadn't bowed, and hadn't even blinked.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked, gesturing toward Kiono.
"There is nothing wrong with me," Kiono's voice cut through the air, smooth, low, and entirely terrifying. "I just took full control."
I gasped softly as Kiono's bright blue eyes suddenly bled into a vivid, glowing green—the exact same unholy hue as Cion's. Standing side by side, if Cion were decades younger, they looked so striking that they could pass for twins rather than father and son.
My heart hammered against my chest. "What kind of trick is this?"
"No trick, my Queen," Kiono murmured. He took a slow step toward me, leaning down until his face was inches from mine. "The real body you all were just planning to kill has been right in front of you this whole time."
I looked him up and down, a wave of sickening guilt crashing over me as my mind instantly flashed to Astelion. Poor, foolish Astelion. She had loved this man, trusted him, and lowered every single wall she had, completely blind to the fact that her sweet protector was actually her ultimate enemy.
Yet, as much as my skin crawled, I couldn't make sense of the madness unfolding before me.
Meeting his glowing green gaze with a cold glare. "Don't be shy. Share with the class. If you want me to trust you and play my part, I need to know exactly what is going on."
Without a word, Kiono reached out and lightly tapped Cion's shoulder.
Instantly, Cion's eyes rolled back, and his entire body went completely limp. I pulled back in my chair as Cion's lifeless shell collapsed forward onto the table. Kiono casually shoved the unconscious body off the carved stone, watching it thud onto the grass, and then slid into the empty chair opposite me.
He leaned back, crossing his legs as if we were merely catching up over tea.
"I am also from the future," Kiono began casually. "I time-jumped alongside Astelion. This has been happening in a continuous, cycle. Astelion goes back to the past trying to alter the timeline, trying to save her mother and change her fate. And I follow her. But whenever I kill her, or whenever she dies, her soul is yanked back to the future stripped of all her memories. The cycle resets, and she is reborn again. Over and over."
I stared at him, trying to digest the sheer impossibility of his words. "How come you don't forget? How do you retain your memories across timelines?"
"Because I am not just a mortal," he smirked, leaning his elbows on the table. "I am a shadow. I can move my consciousness from body to body, just as I can move my original vessel from timeline to timeline."
"And what is it that you actually want?" I demanded, my hands clenching into tight fists under the table.
Kiono's smile faded, replaced by a dark, desperate edge. "My original body has reached its absolute limit. It is dying, breaking down from the weight of time travel and dark magic. I need a new one. I tried to take Castel's body, but his power was incompatible—it would have burned me to ash from the inside. So, I have been forced to use the bodies of my children over the generations. But none of them last. I need a vessel that is powerful, strong, and perfectly compatible."
"How are you Cion and Kiono at the same time?" I interjected, my mind spinning. "Kiono was normal before. He cared for Astelion!"
"In this timeline, Kiono is my original body, not my son," he revealed, tapping his fingers against his knee. "However, to protect my vessel from burning out too quickly and protect it from her, I had to alter my own mind and memories every time I jumped through time. Cion was just a husk I possessed to manipulate the court from the outside. When I arrived in this era, I put the majority of my active consciousness into Cion's body, leaving 'Kiono' with suppressed memories, acting like a loyal soldier. But from time to time, I return to my original frame. Lately, though... my true body is rejecting me. It is weakening rapidly."
It's because of her . I thought to myself. "What changed?"
"My body is dying," Kiono said coldly. "I need a replacement immediately. And right now... Astelion is carrying that replacement inside her womb."
The breath caught in my throat. A child.
"She is carrying a child built of spirit, dragon, and shadow blood," he murmured, his eyes gleaming with dark triumph. "It is the perfect, immortal vessel. But before I take it, I need to tie up all the loose ends here in the palace."
"And how do you plan to do that?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the terror coiling in my gut.
"With a rebellion," Kiono sneered. "I will weaponize the deep, festering hatred the people have for Castel. I will tear this kingdom apart from the inside. But even with a full rebel army, no one can get close enough to put a blade through the Mad King's heart. He is too strong." He paused, leaning forward to fix his glowing green eyes on mine. "The only person who will ever be close enough to strike the final blow... is you."
Silence stretched over the garden, thick and suffocating. Kiono sat back, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, while Cion remained unconscious on the grass beside his boots.
I looked down at my hands resting in my lap, my chest heavy with a crushing weight. Now, sitting in the quiet garden with the true monster smiling in front of me, a cold, terrifying realization washed over my soul... and I began to deeply second-guess if I had done the right thing by betraying her.