The Cael estate was silent in the way of tombs—grand, immaculate, but dead inside.
Adriana Cael stood in the high chamber, robes of deep crimson trimmed in obsidian silk flowing around her like trailing flame. Her posture was perfect, her gaze as cold as judgment.
Snow drifted outside the arched windows, thick and unrelenting. Winter was never welcome in Cael lands. It reminded her too much of failure.
Of Solene.
Adriana turned when the heavy doors creaked open behind her.
Two knights dragged Nerys into the chamber in shackles. Her hair was disheveled, her face bruised but defiant, chin held high.
Good. Adriana always admired that fire. But admiration would not save her.
"Mother," Nerys said, voice sharp as steel.
Adriana didn't move. "You disappoint me, daughter."
"I stopped disappointing you the day I refused to become you."
The words cut, but Adriana didn't show it. Emotion was weakness. Sentiment was rot.
"You threw away your future," Adriana said. "A command of our armies. A match that could've united kingdoms. And for what?"
Nerys didn't speak. Her silence was confession enough.
Adriana's lip curled in disgust.
"Your sister?"
Nerys stiffened.
"I wondered why you protected her so obsessively. Why you fought so hard to hide her disgrace. But love?" Adriana spat the word. "That's not love. That's disease. Perverse. Filth."
Nerys lunged forward. The chains stopped her short.
"I'd burn this house to the ground before I let you shame her again."
Adriana's hand moved faster than thought. She struck Nerys across the face with the back of her gloved hand. Not hard enough to maim—but hard enough to remind.
"You do not raise your voice to me," she said coldly.
Nerys turned back, blood at the corner of her mouth. She smiled through it. "You're afraid of her. That's why you sent Gareth instead of facing her yourself."
Adriana's expression didn't flicker. "Gareth is loyal. Loyal men are expendable. I do not waste myself on frostbitten traitors."
"You'll regret it."
"Will I?" Adriana leaned forward slightly. "She was always too soft for war. All that power, wasted on sentiment and spite. She'll die out there, and the world will be better for it."
"She's stronger than you think."
Adriana's voice dropped.
"And you're dumber than I thought."
She circled behind Nerys now, slow, deliberate, like a vulture measuring where to strike.
"I considered execution," she said. "Public. Swift. But your crimes… are more intimate. More invasive. You didn't just betray your name. You polluted it."
Nerys breathed through her nose, steady.
"So," Adriana continued, "I've decided to make your punishment fit the nature of your sin."
She reached the wall and pressed her hand to a stone panel. A hidden door slid open with a grinding hiss.
"Below this estate lies a chamber built for war criminals," she said. "No sunlight. No sound. No walls to mark the days. You will rot there. Until your sister's name is forgotten. Until you are forgotten."
"And if I don't go quietly?" Nerys asked, already knowing the answer.
Adriana turned back, her smile thin and vicious.
"Then I will send Alden in your place. And he will do worse than rot."
That hit.
Nerys flinched—not at the threat to herself, but the mention of Alden. His cruelty didn't wear robes. It wore smirks and scars and left permanent damage.
Adriana stepped close again, her voice like a blade pressed to the throat.
"But there's another path," she said. "You write a letter. You tell Solene you were lying. That you never loved her. That she was your shame. You beg her not to return."
Nerys swallowed, her fire dimming just slightly.
"And if I do that?"
"Then you live," Adriana said. "Unharmed. Unbroken. But alone."
Nerys didn't respond. Her jaw clenched. Her eyes—those proud, flame-colored eyes—stared straight ahead, blinking back heat.
Adriana leaned closer.
"Make the right choice, daughter. Or I will make it for you."
Nerys stood tall despite the shackles, her chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. Blood from her split lip mingled with the spit she launched at her mother's feet.
"I'd die before I let you poison her with your lies."
The glob hit the marble floor, red and defiant.
Adriana didn't flinch. Her expression didn't shift, not even a twitch of offense. Instead, she looked down at the mess on the tile, then calmly raised her eyes to meet Nerys's.
"So dramatic," she said flatly.
She turned to the guards. "Take her."
The knights moved without hesitation, seizing Nerys by the arms. She fought—hard. Her boots scraped the floor, her muscles straining against iron, teeth bared. But they were trained for this. Brutal. Efficient.
Still, Nerys didn't beg. Didn't scream. Only twisted and snapped and fought like the fire in her blood could burn through steel.
As they dragged her toward the secret passage, Adriana followed a few slow steps behind, voice low and perfectly clear.
"I have already taken the liberty," she said, "of handwriting a letter to Solene."
Nerys froze mid-struggle.
Adriana's smile curled at the edge. "In your style, of course. A confession. Full of regret. Tells her you never loved her. That it was all confusion. That she should not come back."
"No—" Nerys jerked violently, eyes wide. "You can't."
"I can," Adriana said calmly, "and I have."
She stopped at the edge of the hidden stairwell, hands folded neatly. Her gaze was cool, final.
"You will thank me one day."
Nerys howled, not in fear—but rage. Pure and blinding. She slammed her shoulder into one of the guards, nearly breaking free, but the second knight wrenched her arm hard behind her back. Bone strained. She bit back a cry.
"You're lying!" Nerys spat.
Adriana only turned away.
"No one will believe it," Nerys screamed, her voice echoing through the stairwell as they dragged her downward. "She won't believe it! She knows me!"
But Adriana's voice floated back one last time—serene and victorious.
"We'll see."
The stone door sealed behind her, swallowing the sound.
And Nerys Cael vanished into the dark.
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