Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance

Chapter 114: Masks And Nightmares

Athena’s pov

Everyone in the palace were restless after the assassin’s capture. Tension rippled through the walls like a second pulse, constant and sharp.

Kieran doubled the guards. No one entered or left without his approval. But I felt no safer. Not really. I was missing Lucas and Lyra’s presence in the palace. They were still on their quest to look for the other creatures that might be able to help us in our impending battle with Caelum.

And Cassius was still weak and barely conscious due to the injuries he had sustained from the Binded King.

Kieran was my only companion now and I was grateful that he was still standing strong at my side.

Fiona returned just after dawn, cloaked and breathless. "There’s a list," she said. "Of everyone who touched the relocation orders for your chambers."

She handed me the scroll. Ten names. Nobles. Clerks. One of Kieran’s junior commanders. All of them cleared through his seal.

"What do you want done with them?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Not yet. Just watch and get back to me if you find anything suspicious."

"Alright my lady."

"That’s all."

She hesitated. "One more thing. A servant girl found something behind the wall near your old chambers."

I followed Fiona to the east wing. The palace was still under reconstruction but it was a better sight than before. Hidden behind a tapestry, where a stone had come loose from the wall, we found it, a narrow crawlspace that smelled of dust and old magic.

A hidden passage.

One that led directly to the servant halls... and to the outer walls.

"They’ve been watching for longer than we thought," I said.

Fiona nodded grimly. "And now they know you’re vulnerable."

Kieran’s quarters were swarmed with advisors by midmorning. They barked suggestions, accusations, theories. I stood in the shadows, unacknowledged but listening.

Then someone said my name.

"She’s the variable," hissed Lord Darius. "Her presence, her lack of divine protection it invites instability."

"She’s already survived one attempt on her life," another added. "The court won’t abide a second." noveldrama

I stepped forward. "Then they’ll have to get used to disappointment."

The room stilled.

Kieran looked between them and me. "Leave us."

They filed out slowly, their gazes like knives.

Kieran’s voice was quiet. "You shouldn’t be here."

"Neither should an assassin, but here we are."

He didn’t argue.

I crossed the room and showed him the crawlspace map. "They used this to breach. And they’re not done."

He stared at it. "So we smoke them out."

"Not yet. They’re watching. Waiting for us to panic."

"And we don’t?"

"No," I said. "We plan."

The next attack didn’t come for three days. Just long enough for the court to pretend it never happened. _{f.(r)eewe/bnov\ll.com}

Kieran was in the sparring yard that morning, drilling with his elite guard. I stood on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, trying to feel normal.

I didn’t.

Then I heard it.

A scream. A sharp clang of steel.

My heart leapt.

I rushed down the steps, the world narrowing. Kieran was on one knee, coughing, a blade discarded near his feet. Blood stained his collar.

"Poison," he managed.

I knelt beside him, hands trembling. "What happened?"

"One of mine turned on me. Came at me fast. Hit me with something before they dropped."

His skin was paling too quickly.

I shouted for help. For healers. For anyone.

Cassius was already down, I can’t bear to see Kieran join him there too.

The antidote worked. Barely. By nightfall, Kieran’s color had returned, but he lay in bed like a warrior felled by a ghost.

"This wasn’t Hollow Crescent," he said weakly. "This was someone inside."

"Someone who knew how to get close."

He nodded. "I trusted them."

"So did I."

I turned away, rage simmering under my skin.

He reached for my hand. "Athena. If they get me again,"

"They won’t. I won’t let them."

"Athena."

I gripped his fingers. "Then I’ll make sure they don’t."

His smile was faint. "You always were better at vengeance."

He was talking about my time as his second when we were Rogue wolves.

Fiona found traces of magic near the barracks the next day. Not raw. Refined. Precision-crafted.

"An illusion spell," she said. "To make someone look like someone else."

My blood ran cold. Different magic practices are being exposed. Just how hidden were they under the Binded King’s reign? The world had been black and white during his reign but now all things were coming to light.

"They’re not just watching us," I whispered. "They’re among us."

Fiona glanced at me. "What if they’re using the faces of people we trust?"

The idea turned my stomach.

"I want a full audit," I said. "Servants, guards, staff. Magical scans. No exceptions."

Fiona didn’t hesitate. "It’s already begun."

I won’t take it easy on the traitors when I get to them. I could imagine if Lucas and Lyra were here, they would have been targeted as well.

That thought was enough to make me angry again.

That evening, I stood before the mirror in my chambers, studying the wound on my arm. The Void dust had faded, but the memory hadn’t.

Kieran came to stand behind me. His reflection looked older. Tired.

"They’re trying to break us," he said.

"They won’t."

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"That if it comes down to it and if they try again, you’ll run."

"No." I whirled on him. How could he even suggest that?

"Athena," He breathed, frustrated.

"I didn’t survive gods and war to run from shadows. Cowards that are too scared to attack me directly"

His hand touched mine. "Then we fight. Together."

"Together." I echoed.

In my mind, I wondered when I would ever find peace. For once in my life, I wished things were different and I wasn’t me.

The palace grew quieter with each passing night. Nobles retreated to their estates. Servants disappeared. And the silence became heavy with what was unsaid.

In the war room, Fiona unfurled a second map. Rebel markers. Sighting reports. One stood out: a crescent symbol found on a burned carriage outside the city.

"They’re sending messages," she said. "Open ones."

Kieran studied it. "They want us to react."

"And we won’t," I said. "Not yet."

Fiona leaned forward. "Then what’s next?"

My gaze dropped to the symbol.

"We give them something to fear."

The council met again the following morning. I wasn’t invited again but I didn’t wait for an invitation.

This time, I stood beside Kieran.

When Lord Darius opened his mouth to object, I cut him off.

"You’re afraid of me," I said. "Good. You should be. Because I’m not here to be your scapegoat. I’m here to be your shield. Whether you like it or not."

I knew that they might been suspecting my non display of power for the past weeks. And those who secretly opposed my ascension to the throne would try to expose my loss of power.

Silence.

Then Kieran said, "The court gala proceeds as planned. We will not be cowed."

Darius sneered. "And when blood spills on your marble floors again?"

"Then we’ll mop it up," I said. "And keep standing."

Later that evening, I paced the length of my chambers. Something gnawed at the edge of my thoughts, something I couldn’t name.

I lit a candle and opened the scroll again. The list of ten names. One stood out.

Marin of House Virel.

A quiet clerk. Nothing remarkable. But something about the signature beside her name.

Too practiced.

I called for Fiona.

"She worked for the Hollow Crescent once," Fiona confirmed. "Long ago. We thought she’d defected."

"Then bring her in," I said. "Now."

Fiona didn’t argue.

Marin didn’t resist. But she didn’t speak either.

Not until I sat alone with her in the interrogation chamber, the flicker of torchlight painting shadows across her face.

"You’re not going to kill me," she said pointedly not scared of the fact that I had caught on to her.

"No," I replied. "You’re going to tell me who gave the order."

"I can’t."

"Because of loyalty?"

"Because of blood," she said, and bit her tongue until it started bleeding. Magic flared, a shimmer of old binding.

"Get a healer!" I shouted.

But it was too late.

Her mouth filled with blood and she collapsed.

Dead before she hit the ground.

I returned to my chambers that night with fire in my chest.

But I couldn’t sleep.

The dream came again.

The white hall filled with the different gods and goddess that I had once known allies and enemies.

The blood.

The empty throne.

The scene where Caelum had betrayed my trust and stabbed.

But this time, I wasn’t crying.

I was burning.

And I woke up gasping for breath.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and if I was to look in a mirror now, terror from the nightmare still remained in my eyes.

The words that he whispered in my nightmare flooded my head.

You must have escaped from me before but not this time. I will make sure nothing remains of your essence to the extent you won’t be reborn again.

Caelum was close and he was coming for me.

But this time I won’t be caught off guard.

I will be fully prepared.