Chapter Seventeen: Almost Too Late
Elara could stand erect now….That was progress…
Three days ago she could barely sit without the room spinning, now she could cross the length of her chamber without gripping the wall for balance, her legs still felt unsteady but they held her weight, and that felt like a victory she did not celebrate out loud.
The silver light had not returned.
At least not visibly…
But sometimes when she closed her eyes she felt it, faint, resting somewhere deep in her chest like something waiting.
But the problem wasn't her body, It was the guards.
Two outside her chamber, Two at the outer corridor, One stationed at the balcony arch as if she might suddenly grow wings again and launch herself into the sky.
She folded her arms, staring at the guard by the door who couldn't leave her side….
"Do you plan to follow me into the bath as well."
The guard stiffened. "We are instructed to remain within proximity."
"I am not a prisoner."
He did not answer. She didn't expect anything better..That was answer enough.
It made her skin crawl.
They were not guarding her, They were watching her.
Like she might split open again at any moment, destroy something or even become something…
She pressed her fingers against her temples.
"What am I really". She asked herself everyday
The question would not leave her mind…
"Sovereign blood?, Am I Extinct or do I represent Recognition?"..
She had overheard enough whispers to piece together fragments, but none of them were comforting.
That evening she decided she could not sit in that room any longer.
"I need air," she told the guards.
"We will accompany you." Of course they would.
She walked through the inner corridors slowly, memorizing the turns, the arches, the areas she was not meant to enter and the ones she had earned access to, she was learning the realm whether they liked it or not.
There was one place she had not explored yet.
The library.
It stood at the edge of the citadel's eastern wing, tall doors carved with sigils older than the current court, no guards stood outside it, which was surprising…
She pushed the door open.
Dust and old paper greeted her.
Shelves towered high, filled with records, histories, laws, bloodlines, She exhaled slowly.
If answers existed anywhere, they would be here, books don't lie, she said…
She moved between the rows carefully, fingers trailing across spines she could barely read, the language shifted between eras, some books felt like stone more than paper.
After what felt like an hour, she found one different from the rest, It was tucked behind larger volumes, thin but old, its edges worn and neglected.
She pulled it out and Dust lifted into the air,She coughed, waving it away, then blew across the cover.
The title was faint but visible.
"On Sovereign Resonance and the Fallen Line".
Her heart skipped a beat…
She sat at one of the long wooden tables and opened it.
The writing was dense, Structured, very raw and not forgiving….
Urghhh, She groaned loudly and frowned slightly.
Reading had never been her strength, she preferred listening, doing and surviving.
Still, she tried, She traced the words slowly as she reads;
"The sovereign line was believed eradicated after the last bearer fractured the realm during ascension"
Her vision blurred slightly, She blinked rapidly and Kept reading….
"The current manifests as wings of living silver, bound not by flesh but by origin"
Her breathing slowed and The words began to blur together then the room became too quiet.
She told herself she would read one more page, Just one…. Just….a….pa….
Her head dipped and The book slipped slightly beneath her fingers.
And the sleep finally took her.
⸻
Kaelreth was on his way to the council chamber when something pulled his attention sideways.
A familiar presence. "Elara", he muttered
He slowed near the library doors.
They were slightly open and He stepped inside.
He saw her Asleep over an ancient text, one cheek resting against the pages, hair spilling across the table…
For a moment he forgot to breathe, She looked innocent Less guarded and Less burdened…
He stepped closer.
His expression softened before he could stop it, A small smile found its way on his lips…
Then he caught himself and stopped… He reached out and gently tugged a strand of her hair away from the page of the book…
"Elara," he murmured.
She did not move, He allowed himself stay and stare a second longer.
Then footsteps approached.
"My lord," a subordinate said from behind him, voice tight. "There is movement in the lower sectors, we believe it is connected to the voice heard during the trial."
His posture shifted immediately.
"Speak."
As they conversed quietly near the shelves, neither noticed the eyes watching from the balcony above.
Serathiel stood in shadow.
Two of her closest allies flanked her and She had seen everything.
The way he looked at her, The softness, The touch.
That was more than curiosity, she thought
Her nails dug into her palm as she felt she needed to do something before it was too late..
"This cannot continue," one of her companions whispered breaking her thoughts…
Serathiel did not respond at first.
Her gaze never left the sleeping elara below…
If the realm would not remove her, then circumstance would, she thought
She had considered confronting Elara directly again, but the memory of being thrown across the chamber still burned.
No, she thought halfway..
Indirect would be wiser.
She turned to one of her companions, Lyrisse, whose control over elemental currents was unstable but powerful.
"You desire advancement," Serathiel said quietly.
Lyrisse swallowed. "Yes."
"You will have it."
Serathiel's voice was smooth as silk.
"Create an accident."
Lyrisse hesitated. "In the library."
"A minor fire," Serathiel replied. "Contained enough that it appears careless, but strong enough that the human cannot escape in her condition."
Lyrisse's eyes widened slightly.
"And if she survives."
Serathiel's gaze sharpened.
"Do it right and She will not."
Below, Kaelreth finished his discussion and exited with his subordinate.
Elara remained asleep.
Lyrisse descended quietly once the corridor cleared.
She stood near the far end of the shelves and raised her hands subtly.
A spark formed between her fingers.
It was Small andControlled…..
She released it into a stack of brittle scrolls.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then smoke,Thin at first, Then it became thicker.
Elara moved slightly and The smoke smell reached her before the heat did.
Her eyes opened slowly.
The room was hazy.
She sat up, disoriented.
"What…"
Flames licked up the far shelves, climbing quickly as old parchment fed them.
Her heart slammed.
"No, no, no."
She tried to stand while holding the book in her hand tightly…
Her legs buckled…
The smoke thickened, filling her lungs with every breath.
She coughed hard, clutching the table for support, while realizing there's no where to run..
"Help," she tried to shout, but her voice was swallowed by the smoke which made it crack…
She looked toward the door and Fire blocked it.
Panic surged.
She closed her eyes, reaching inward, searching for that silver current but Nothing answered.
She tried again and again
Please, I need you now, she begged
The heat intensified and A shelf above her cracked and fell right in front of her…
She stumbled backward in fear…
Tears streamed down her face, not from fear alone but from the crushing weight of it.
I can't do this, she thought
Her strength had drained fast and The guards were too far.
No one knew she was here and That thought hit her hard.
I am alone, And I'm going to die here
Please someone, Anyone save me please, she thought…
Her knees hit the floor.
The smoke blurred everything….
Maybe this was easier, she thought
Maybe this was what the realm wanted,She lowered her head as she stopped fighting it…
At that moment, she had given up….Then the doors exploded inward.
The force of it extinguished part of the flames instantly.
Kaelreth stepped through the smoke like a storm given form.
His power surged outward in a violent wave, smothering the fire along the walls.
"Elara." He called out
And He reached her in seconds, She was barely conscious.
Her head lifted weakly.
"You came," she whispered.
His chest tightened painfully at the sound of it.
He pulled her into his arms, shielding her body as the last flames died under his control.
"Do not ever give up like that," he said, voice rough.
She coughed against his chest.
"I tried."
Her hands clutched his smock faintly.
"I couldn't feel it."
His jaw tightened.
"You will not need to feel it when I am here."
He carried her out of the burning library, smoke trailing behind them.
From the corridor shadows, Serathiel watched.
Her expression did not change.
But inside, fury boiled.
This was not over, she thought..
Not even close.
Outside the library, Kaelreth lowered Elara gently to the floor, brushing ash from her hair.
Her breathing was uneven.
He cupped her face.
"Look at me."
Her eyes lifted slowly.
"You're safe," he said.
For the first time since entering this realm, she believed it.
Not because of the walls or the guards.
But Because of him.
She pressed her forehead weakly against his chest.
"I was going to let it take me."
His hand tightened in her hair.
"Elara" he said quietly. "Not while I still live."
And for once, he did not care who heard him.
He knew he meant it…