Cedric's face drained of every trace of color. His jaw worked silently for a second before he managed to swallow down the rising dread.
"Me... Rosetta... and Mother?" he breathed out, his voice barely audible over the hum of the fading spatial distortion. His gaze flicked over Aefia's shoulder to where Rosetta stood pressed against the stone wall, her eyes darting between them with frantic, uncomprehending suspicion.
"She has no damn idea," Cedric gritted his teeth, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. His fist clenched at his sides, his knuckles turning white as he tried to stomp towards her. "Rosetta thinks she's playing the mastermind in every fucking thing... she thinks she's in on Kazimir's grand plan that is costing us all if out lives."
Before he could advance any further, Aefia stepped into his path with her left hand extended.
"Shut up and calm down Prince Cedric. She is aware that she is a pawn. There is no reason left to be angry with her. Rather... Save your energy for what is coming up next." Aefia said coldly, smoothing her sleeve down with deliberate, sharp movements.
"A pawn holding a lantern for a brother who will cut her throat the moment she stops being useful. The King and Kazimir aren't leaving any loose ends. Not after what happened with the Dowager Queen, and certainly not after what they have done to the foreign royals who stumbled onto the truth." Cedric added.
"I swear—"
"I said shut up, Rosetta," Cedric snapped, though a bead of cold sweat rolled down his own temple.
She stepped closer to Cedric, her voice dropping so low that only he could hear her above the stagnant chill of the room.
He could feel the heavy, oppressive weight suffocating the room. He knew better than to interfere with a Guardian when her eyes were glowing like dying embers.
"When Kazimir comes down those stairs, he isn't coming to just frame me," Aefia warned him, her crimson eye burning with absolute certainty. "He's coming to clean the board. If you stay in this palace, Cedric, you and your mother will be the next pair of Porcelain faces delivered to an orphanage."
Cedric's hands released from their tight fist grasp. He glanced back at the heavy iron doors, then at the lifeless, chopped up bodies in the dark corners of the basement. The weight of decades of secret slaughter sat heavily upon his shoulders.
"And you?" Cedric asked, his eyes fixing on Aefia's pale, unyielding face. "What are you going to do?"
Aefia's hand settled firmly around the hilt of Spectrum. A faint, razor-thin smile—entirely devoid of warmth—touched the corner of her lips. "Like I said before...
"I will swear an oath."
She turned her gaze slowly toward Rosetta, whose eyes were wide with sheer, unadulterated horror. Rosetta tried to press herself further into the stone wall, her lips trembling, but no sound came out.
"Cedric," Aefia said, her voice snapping back to usual sharp tone. "Take your mother and get out of the palace before sunrise. I will meet you both again at the 'edge of the door'. Do not try to fight Kazimir. Do not try to reason with the King. You carry the truth now, and as long as you are alive, their secret has a mouth."
Cedric swallowed hard, looking from the pile of desecrated remains to Aefia's unyielding eyes. And softly let out a sigh.
I honestly didn't think things were going to get this bad to have to shift a small group of people from one place to the other. Neither will the process be short too. I can barely assure myself that I will come out alive. Aefia thought to herself.
"And Rosetta?" Cedric asked quietly, his voice hollow.
Aefia glanced sideways at the girl. "If she has any sanity left, she will run with you. If she stays..." Aefia's crimson eye gleamed under the torchlight. "...then she chooses to be part of the altar."
A long silence descended between them.
Then, she stepped forward.
"My Sovereign. If I were really going to entrap you again," she dropped to her knees right in front of them both. "You are free to cut my throat. This person has committed crimes too high to wipe out."
Aefia's eyes narrowed down as she took a step back. "I will take Rosetta with me. Cedric, leave now."
Without asking a second question, her hand shot out towards the sealed door. Red strings immediately wrapped around the door and forced it open.
Without a second question, he took off towards it. Immediately after leaving, the door shut itself again, leaving only Rossetta and Aefia behind.
She folded her arms and looked down at the pink-haired girl.
"You seem very bold for a person who was behind a couple of the murders. And let's be honest... You were personally thinking about helping your brother kill me. Am I right?"
"Yes, Sovereign."
She sighed, then turned away. "Well since you have submitted yourself now... I will have you witness the oath."
Aefia turned her head over her shoulder one last time. "Try not to freak out."
Almodr instantly, the temperature in the basement plummeted to an absolute, suffocating freeze.
It wasn't the bitter cold of winter, but the stillness of the void itself—the oppressive, absolute chill of the Guardian Realm spilling uninhibited into the mortal plane. The flickering wall torches died instantly, replaced by a sudden, violent flare of deep crimson flames that danced along the stone floor.
Aefia let out a long, slow breath through her nose. She shifted Spectrum into her left hand, then slowly raised her right hand, removing her leather glove with her teeth and dropping it to the stone floor.
Then, raised her left hand, exposing the bare skin of her palm. Spectrum's dark silver hilt hummed violently against her right hip, its blade vibrating in resonance as a thick, swirling vortex of red spatial butterflies began to form in the air around her.
"By the authority resting in the Guardian of Death," her voice rang out as she sliced her bare left palm along the sharp pommel of Spectrum. A single drop of dark, glowing crimson blood fell, suspended in mid-air within the spatial vortex instead of touching the stone floor.
"I swear an oath to the dead whose peace was stolen, and to the living whose blood is marked," she started. "That as long as I am alive, I shall use my magic to it's full extend to do them justice. The righteous and the submitted members of the Mides family shall not be harmed and be sealed away from the eyes of their enemies and murderers. I shall burn those who touch them alive."
The suspended droplet of blood shattered into thousands of tiny, glowing red threads. It sent ripples moving through the air and extending outwards in invisible rays. She then turned around to look at Rosetta who was letting a horrified shriek and sinking all the way to her knees as the sheer pressure pressed down on her chest like a heavy lead weight.
Her eyes stayed glued to the small mark that was forming at her palm. A small buttetfly mark. For a few seconds, a flicker of an uncertain thought crossed through her eyes.
"That thing will obviously kill you if you try to betray me, you know?" Aefia added, folding her arms. A knowing smirk lighting up on her face.
"What...?" The Princess looked up at her in confusion.
"It's a soul-tether," Aefia said, her voice cutting through the suffocating chill as she drew a fresh pair of leather gloves back on with her teeth, pulling it snug over her palm. The spectral red flames lining the stone walls flickered and died, leaving the basement shrouded once more in damp, stagnant shadow.
"Try to act against the oath, try to alert Kazimir, or try to run anywhere other than where I tell you—and the magic will burn your circulatory system from the inside out before you can finish a sentence."
Rosetta gulped. "Why?"
"I can't guarantee you won't betray me. Sorry." She offered back a polite smile.
Rosetta straightened up, her knuckles white against the cold floorboards as she stayed on her knees, with rage and frustration. "Where... where is the 'edge of the doors'?"
"The old eastern boundary gates," Aefia answered, stepping toward the center of the room. Her eyes narrowed as she analyzed the geometry of the palace layout in her mind. "Where the barrier between the castle grounds and the outer forest thins out. Cedric is already heading there with your mother. You will meet them at the tree line right before the clock strikes noon. Of course... My judgement on this matter will be a bit different from the original conclusion."
She paused, leaning down slightly so her face was level with Rosetta's.
"Listen to me carefully," Aefia's voice dropped to an icy whisper. "Kazimir isn't stupid. The moment he realizes Cedric and the Queen are missing, he won't waste time searching the rooms. He will immediately attempt to lock down the palace perimeter using the secondary array in the eastern tower. He will try to isolate the wing, claim there's a treasonous plot, and execute everyone inside before news reaches the outer lords.
"Also... You aren't sure that he isn't currently stalking us, right? He has all four target underneath one roof and this is just the perfect opportunity. It will also be for the best that we follow a more 'certain' route. Say that I am correct."
Rosetta's eyes widened. "The eastern tower... he has the key to the secondary array?"
"He ha had it since the day the Dowager Queen died, since practically, the King handed it to him as a keepsake," Aefia said coldly. "When you reach the boundary gate, do not wait in the open. Hide inside the hollow of the old stone archway until Cedric arrives. If Kazimir's knights reach the gate before Cedric does, do not engage them. The mark on your palm will bend the light around you three—it will keep you hidden as long as you remain completely still and keep your mouth shut."
She straightened up, her hand resting casually over the hilt of Spectrum. "Now then... I think it is—"
"Wait! I have an objection." Rosetta finally stood up. "What... are you actually planning?"
Aefia turned her head over her shoulder. Her face with a grim expression. Then looked away for a while.
***
Cedric's hands were shaking so violently that he could barely manage to slide the heavy brass latch back on his mother's chamber door.
The inner sanctuary of the Queen's quarters was cloyingly warm, perfumed with dry lavender and expensive incense—a suffocating contrast to the damp, iron-scented draft still clinging to the fabric of his clothes. Beside the grand, velvet-draped hearth sat the Queen of Mides.
Luckily she was awake.
"Cedric?" She set the mug down on the saucer with a quiet clink, her brow furrowing as she took in his disheveled appearance.
His cloak was torn at the hem, his jaw was pale, and his breathing sounded ragged. "What in the heavens is wrong with you—"
"Mother. Stand up," Cedric interrupted, his voice cracking down the middle. He slammed his palm against the doorframe to steady himself, taking three fast, uneven steps into the room. "We have to leave. Right now."
The Queen stared at him, her lips parting in quiet bewilderment. "Leave? Cedric, it is nearly midnight. What nonsense are you talking about?"
"I said get up!" Cedric practically yelled, his chest heaving. He caught himself instantly, his eyes darting frantically toward the heavy wooden door, terror flooding his chest. He took a choked breath and lowered his voice into an urgent, desperate whisper, stepping right up to her chair and grabbing her by the elbows. "Please. Mother, listen to me for once in your life. We cannot stay here another hour."
"Cedric, release me this instant!" Vivienne demanded, though her tone faltered as she looked up into her son's eyes. She had seen him sweet, kind and always worry-free—but she had never seen him look like he was staring down his own executioner.
"Have you lost your mind? The guards are posted outside the corridor! If your father hears you throwing a temper tantrum at this hour—"
"Father doesn't give a damn about us!" Cedric hissed through gritted teeth, his fingers tightening against her sleeves.
"Father... Kazimir... none of them! You think we are safe in this fortress? You think we are royalty?" He let out a harsh, humorless laugh that sounded dangerously close to a sob. "We are targets, Mother. Next in line. Right after the servants. Right after that lifeless Dowager Queen!"
She went entirely rigid. The slight color in her withered cheeks vanished in a single breath. "What did you just say?"
"I said we are leaving," Cedric repeated, his voice trembling as he tried to pull her up from the armchair. "Rosetta is already on her way to the eastern boundary gate. I promised... someone... that I would bring you there before Kazimir shuts the palace down."
"Cedric, stop this madness!" Vivienne snapped, pulling her arms back with surprising strength, though her hands were trembling now too. "You are speaking treason! The Dowager Queen died of a weak heart in her sleep—the doctors confirmed it! If you have been listening to rumors from the lower courts—"
"She was poisoned!" Cedric shouted in a muffled rasp, leaning right into his mother's face, his eyes wide and bloodshot. "Kazimir poisoned her! The King ordered it! They took her maid, they cut her throat in the sub-basement, and they turned her body into dark magic fodder! I saw the blood, Mother! I saw the corpses chopped up on the floor! I stood in the room where they have been slaughtering people for thirty fucking years!"
The chamber fell into a horrific, absolute silence.
The lavender incense burned silently between them. Vivienne stared at her son, her chest rising and falling in shallow, panicked gasps. She searched his face for any sign of a joke, any trace of his usual cynical mockery, but found only raw, unadulterated terror.
"You... you are lying," she whispered, her voice barely a thread of sound. "Your father... he wouldn't..."
"He did. He is," Cedric pleaded, his voice breaking as he dropped to one knee in front of her chair, gripping both of her cold hands in his own. "He turned the missing servants into toys, Mother. Porcelain dolls for the orphanages to keep the commoners quiet. He killed foreign royals who found out. And Kazimir... Kazimir is coming to clean the board. If we stay here, he will put us in that basement next."
The Queen's hands went ice cold beneath his. A tear spilled over her wrinkled cheek, cutting a track through her powdered skin. She didn't argue anymore. She didn't call him mad. The sheer weight of the truth—the quiet, dark shadows that had hung over the Mides palace for decades—finally crashed down on her.
"Rosetta..." Vivienne gasped, her breath catching in her throat. "Is Rosetta—"
"Aefia has her, and she is under her control in case she tries anything," Cedric said quickly, pulling his mother up from the chair. She stumbled, her legs weak, but he caught her around the waist, draping a dark wool cloak over her shoulders. "Aefia bound her with a soul-tether. She is guiding her to the gate. We have to move. Now."