A Vow of Vengeance and Silk

The dagger trembled in Seraphine's grip as she lunged forward, her boots slipping in the slick black ichor coating the crypt floor. The air reeked of rotting roses and copper, thick enough to coat her tongue with the metallic tang of blood. Eldrin's laughter echoed off the crumbling walls, a sound that slithered down her spine like ice water. She didn't hesitate.

Pip's blade found the space between Eldrin's ribs with a wet crunch. The creature arched backward with a shriek that wasn't entirely human, its too-long fingers scrabbling at the wound. Thick, tar-like fluid bubbled from the injury, hissing where it struck the stone.

Kaelan seized the moment. His elbow connected with Eldrin's jaw in a crack of bone, followed by a brutal knee to the gut that sent the creature sprawling. When he turned to face Seraphine, his chest heaving, she saw the truth laid bare in his eyes, not just fear, but something deeper. Something like shame. "Go!" he snarled, his voice raw. She didn't move. Couldn't. Because Eldrin was already rising, its limbs twisting at impossible angles. The wound in its side knitted shut with a wet, squelching sound, tendrils of black vine threading through torn flesh like stitches pulled tight. "Sweet little viper," Eldrin crooned, licking its jagged teeth. A drop of that dark fluid dripped from its chin, sizzling where it hit the floor. "You don't even know what he's hiding from you, do you?" Seraphine's scar burned in warning, but she tightened her grip on the dagger. "I know enough." Eldrin's grin stretched wider, splitting its cracked lips. "Do you?" Then it moved, not at her, but at Kaelan. The impact sent them both crashing into the far wall. Stone cracked under the force, dust and debris raining down. Kaelan's dagger skittered across the floor, lost in the shadows. Eldrin's claws found his throat, pinning him against the crumbling brick with terrifying ease. "Remember the vaults, brother?" Eldrin whispered, its breath foul against Kaelan's face. The words were intimate, cruel. "Remember how you screamed when the roots first took you?" Kaelan's hands trembled where they gripped Eldrin's wrists, his scars flaring so bright the glow shone through his torn sleeves. Seraphine moved without thought. Her dagger found Eldrin's spine, driving deep between the knobs of its vertebrae. The creature howled, its body jerking violently. This time, the wound didn't heal. The vines beneath its skin recoiled, blackening at the edges as if burned by her touch. Eldrin whirled on her, its milky eye rolling wildly. "You…" Kaelan's fist connected with its jaw, the impact sending teeth skittering across the stone. Eldrin staggered, its movements suddenly sluggish, its form flickering, sometimes a monster, sometimes a man, sometimes something caught horribly between. The tear in the air shuddered, the edges fraying like rotten fabric. Beyond it, the lost princes shrieked, their clawed hands grasping at nothing as the rift began to collapse in on itself. Eldrin's laughter turned desperate. "You think this ends with me?" it spat, black ichor dripping from its lips. "The roots run deeper than you know, little brother. Deeper than she knows." Its gaze locked onto Seraphine, the hatred in its eyes almost human. "Ask him about the vaults. Ask him what the crown really does to its heirs."

Then, with one final, guttural snarl, it threw itself backward, into the closing tear. The rift sealed with a sound like a dying breath.

Silence fell, thick and suffocating. The crypt exhaled around them, its ancient stones groaning as if the weight of centuries had finally caught up. The torchlight flickered, casting jagged shadows that slithered along the walls like restless spirits. Seraphine's breath came in sharp, shallow bursts, her pulse a wild drumbeat in her ears. The dagger in her hand dripped with Eldrin's ichor, the liquid unnaturally warm, like blood left too long in the sun. She turned to Kaelan. His face was ashen beneath the blood and dirt, his throat scored with deep, weeping gashes. His scars still glowed faintly, but the light was fading now, like embers after a fire. His fingers hovered near his wounds, which weren't healing, that wasn't normal. "Kaelan," she started, her voice raw. He flinched. For the first time since she'd known him, he looked at her like she was the monster. Rook's voice cut through the tension like a blade. "We need to move. That thing said 'vaults', if there are more of them down there..." Brick hefted his axe, his dark eyes scanning the crumbling walls. "Tunnels beneath the palace. Old ones." Kaelan said nothing. Just stared at the spot where the tear had been, his jaw clenched so tight Seraphine could see the muscle twitching. The black veins in her hand pulsed faintly, responding to some unseen call. The air tasted of old magic and older secrets, and Seraphine knew, whatever truth Eldrin had hinted at, it would change everything.

The vaults waited below, and with them, answers that might damn them all.