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The silence that followed Gavin being dragged from the chamber crashed over me like a physical weight. I slumped to the floor, my forehead pressed against cold stone, a deep exhaustion settling into my bones. Not just bodily fatigue from the ritual, but a soul-deep weariness that made each breath an effort.

Veris’s footsteps echoed as he approached, measured and unhurried. He crouched before me, bringing his face level with mine. He stayed just beyond my reach, caution evident in his posture despite my obvious weakness.

“Never say I’m not a man of my word,” he said, his voice soft with mock gentleness. “Your consort and the queens are free, as we agreed.”

Horror and rage sliced through my exhaustion like a blade. “Atlantis isn’t freedom! It’s a death sentence! You’re going to drown the queens!” My voice broke, raw with fury and desperation.

Veris tutted, his expression a mockery of regret. “You should have been more specific in your terms. You asked for their release.” His lips curled into a cruel smile. “You never specified where I should release them.”

“You’re a monster,” I whispered, tears leaving hot trails down my cheeks. “You’ve served the Shadow King all this time. Did you ever care about your people at all?”

Something flickered in his amber eyes—a shadow passing over sunlight. “I’ve always done what was necessary for their survival.” He reached out, his fingers hovering near my cheek but not quite touching, as though I were a dangerous animal that might still bite. “As have you. We are not so different, you and I.”

I recoiled from his nearness, disgust giving me strength enough for that small defiance. The way he studied me made my skin crawl, his calculation mixed with a hunger that had nothing to do with desire and everything to do with power.

“What you’ve done is unforgivable,” I said, each word pushing through the exhaustion.

A slow smile spread across his face, revealing too many teeth. “You’re stronger than your mother was. More resilient.” His eyes glinted with something that might have been respect if it hadn’t been so poisoned by cruelty. “Diana would be proud, I think.”

I gathered what meager energy remained in my depleted body. “I’m going to kill you,” I promised, each word distinct and measured.

Veris laughed, the sound echoing in the cavernous chamber. “Perhaps someday.” He stood, towering over my prone form, casting me in shadow. “But not this day.”

He turned to his commanders, those who remained after the others had dragged Gavin away. “Take her down to the dungeon, to the cell we prepared for her.” A cruel smile curved his lips as he added, “She’s going to be here a while.”

Strong hands gripped my arms, hauling me upright. My head spun with the sudden movement, black spots dancing across my vision. The ritual chamber blurred as they dragged me forward, my feet scraping uselessly against stone.

My mother’s ghost appeared one last time as we passed through the doorway, her form flickering like a candle flame caught in a draft. She looked unbearably sad.

“You won’t be able to see or hear me down there,” she said, her voice reaching me through the growing darkness. “But I’ll be with you. Be brave, my shining girl.”

We descended into the bowels of the Sun Keep, each step taking me deeper into the earth, farther from sky and moon and stars. The air grew stale, tainted with old blood and despair.

The cell they brought me to was unlike the ones where they’d kept the queens or Javier, which had been simple stone chambers. This one was designed for containment of a different magnitude. Heavy manganese bands embedded in the floor and ceiling channeled corrupted magic in a circular pattern. Foul sigils etched into the walls pulsed like living ink, ward patterns I’d never seen before, likely because they had no place in this world.

My captors threw me into the cell with casual brutality, my body hitting the stone floor with enough force to drive whatever breath remained from my lungs. The cell door slammed shut with a finality that echoed through my bones, and their retreating footsteps let me know I was truly alone.

I lay there, my cheek pressed against unforgiving stone, too exhausted to move. Through my bonds, I reached outward, seeking the familiar presences of my consorts. I sensed unease and expectation from Javier, Bastian, Ash, and Thane. But Gavin was pure rage and chaos. That I could feel him at all meant he’d survived his trip through the portal to Atlantis. If I were looking for bright sides, I would have started there, but there was no room for hope or optimism in me at the moment.

I curled onto my side, drawing my knees to my chest. Slowly, my tears dried, leaving salty tracks on my skin. In their place grew something harder, something that even exhaustion and isolation couldn’t extinguish. Not despair, not surrender. Resolve.

Remember who you are , my mother had said, her words echoed by Selene moments ago.

I am a survivor.

I am a mother.

I am a queen.

I am the High Queen.

I am Selene incarnate.

I am a goddess.

I closed my eyes, saving what little strength remained. They had made a fatal mistake, these shifters. These servants of shadow. They had left me alive. They had given me time.

And when my power returned—when my consorts came for me, as I knew they would—I would show Veris exactly what it meant to imprison a goddess.

I pulled the tiny box containing my mom’s hair from my pocket and clutched it in both hands, holding it tight against my chest. As my mom had forewarned, I couldn’t see her, not down here where the suppression wards were still active, but I knew she was with me. I wasn’t alone.

Darkness claimed me, consciousness finally slipping away, but not before I whispered into the shadows,

“You can hold me for now, but not forever.”

To be continued…

Another cliffhanger, I know. I'm sorry! I promise it will all be worth it in the end!