Elara's POV
Pain was the first thing I felt when I woke, sharp and everywhere, like my body had been crushed and put back together wrong.
My lungs burned with each breath, my throat raw from screaming..
"Easy," a familiar voice said…."don't try to move too fast."
I forced my eyes open and saw Captain Riven standing beside the bed, he looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes, his uniform wrinkled like he hadn't changed in days.
"What happened?" my voice came out as a croak.
"You've been unconscious for two days," Riven said quietly
The castle released you from the walls just before you suffocated, we pulled you out barely breathing.
The memories rushed back, the hidden passage, seeing Kael kneeling before the altar, Maeve trapping us, the walls closing in, I sat up too quickly and the room spun.
"Liora," I gasped, "where is she?"
Riven's expression went dark.
"The west wing collapsed, we couldn't find her body, I'm sorry my lady."
The words hit me like a physical blow, Liora was gone, the only person who'd tried to help me was dead because I'd followed her into that passage.
"It's not your fault," Riven said gently, reading my face.
"Yes it is," tears burned my eyes, "everything is my fault, that guard, Liora, all of it."
"The king has ordered the Trial of Souls to begin tonight," Riven said, changing the subject.
"you need to prepare yourself."
I looked down at my arm and my stomach dropped, the silver marks had spread even further while I was unconscious.
Thhey covered my entire shoulder now and crept across my collarbone, reaching for my heart like hungry fingers.
"I'm running out of time," I whispered.
"Then let's hope the trial gives you answers," Riven said.
They brought me to the castle's lowest level just after sunset, down stairs I didn't know existed, deeper and deeper until the air turned cold and damp.
Finally we reached a circular chamber carved from black stone.
.
In the center was a pool of silver water that shouldn't exist this far underground….. yet somehow it reflected the moon above as if there was no ceiling at all.
The three council members stood at the edges like sentries, and in the shadows against the far wall stood Kael.
He didn't look at me when I entered.
"Princess Elara," Maeve's voice echoed through the chamber.
"You stand at the threshold between two souls, tonight the Moon Goddess will judge which one is stronger."
"How does it work?" I asked, my voice steadier than I felt.
"You enter the Moon Pool and face your own soul." Maeve explained, "if you're strong enough you'll emerge as yourself.
if Seraphina's hold is too strong the queen will take over completely and Elara Vance will cease to exist."
"And if I refuse?" I looked at each of them in turn.
"Then we kill you now," Torren said flatly, his hand already on his sword, "before the queen can fully awaken."
I finally let myself look at Kael, desperately searching his face for something, anything that showed he cared, that the man who'd held my face so gently in his study was still in there somewhere, but his expression was cold stone.
"Do it," he said quietly.
The words shattered what was left of my heart…
"Fine," I said, "let's get this over with."
I walked to the edge of the pool, the water looked like liquid moonlight, beautiful and terrifying.
I took a deep breath and stepped in.
The cold hit me instantly, burning my skin like ice, the water rose to my knees, then my waist, then my chest, with each step the burning intensified until I could barely breathe.
"Keep going," Maeve's voice called from somewhere far away.
"Until the water claims you."
I took one more step and the water closed over my head.
The moment it did, everything changed, the cold became fire, burning through my veins like acid.
I opened my mouth to scream and water rushed in, choking me, drowning me.
The silver marks on my skin erupted with light, glowing so bright it turned the water white, pain exploded through every nerve in my body…..worse than anything I'd ever felt, like my soul was being ripped apart from the inside.
Then suddenly I was flying, the water threw me out with such force I couldn't breathe.
I hit the stone floor hard, gasping and choking, my entire body convulsing.
"What's happening?" Torren's voice shouted from somewhere above me.
I tried to move but couldn't, the pain was too much.
I could feel the silver marks spreading faster now, crawling across my chest, reaching for my throat.
"The pool." Maeve's voice was filled with shock and fear "it rejected her."
"That's impossible," Eldric said, "the Moon Pool has never rejected anyone, not in a thousand years."
I rolled onto my side, coughing up water that tasted like metal and moonlight.
My vision blurred, darkening at the edges.
"Get away from her," Torren drew his sword, the metal singing as it left the sheath.
"if the goddess herself won't judge her then the decision is clear, we kill her now before the queen can fully awaken."
"No," Kael's voice cut through the chamber like thunder.
I heard his footsteps, felt him drop to his knees beside me.
"My lord, you saw what happened." Torren said.
"The Moon Pool rejected her, do you know what that means?"
"It means she's not ready," Kael said, but his voice was uncertain.
"It means she's not human," Maeve corrected, her blind eyes somehow fixed on me.
"The pool only rejects those who have no soul to judge, or those who carry something the goddess cannot touch."
"Then what is she?" Eldric demanded.
I tried to speak, to defend myself, but no words came out, my throat was too raw, the marks too tight around my chest.
I could feel consciousness slipping away again.
"I don't know," Kael said quietly, and for the first time I heard real fear in his voice.
"Then we vote," Torren said, "all in favor of execution?"
"Wait." Kael's hand gripped my shoulder…..
"You can't."
"We invoke ancient law," Eldric said.
"If a vessel is rejected by the goddess, it must be destroyed before dawn, all in favor?"
Through my fading vision I saw three hands raise, Torren, Eldric, and after a long pause, even Maeve….
"It's decided," Torren said, "the girl dies at first light."
"No," Kael's voice was desperate now.
"I won't allow it."
"You have no choice, my king," Maeve said softly.
"The law is older than your crown, we execute her at dawn, may the goddess have mercy on whatever she is."
.
The last thing I saw before darkness took me was Kael's face, twisted with something I couldn't name, grief or guilt or maybe both…..then everything went black and I heard Seraphina's laughter echoing in my mind.
"They're going to kill you, little light," she purred, "and when you die, I'll finally be free."