Chapter 6 Blood,Ties & Betrayal

For the first time in days, Seraphina felt something close to peace.

A dangerous, temporary kind - the kind that comes just before the fall.

She stood alone on a cliffside balcony, wind catching her silver-streaked hair, the scent of scorched roses rising from the dark gardens below. Somewhere in the distance, Umbraeth hummed its low, eternal melody - a song made from broken promises and unclaimed power.

She touched her lips where Kael had kissed her. They still tingled.

And her heart?

It was no longer still.

He hadn't spoken to her since that night. Not out of cruelty - no. Kael was too sharp for silence without reason. His distance was deliberate. Measured. Like he was building walls he knew she'd tear down.

And she would.

Eventually.

But right now, she had other questions clawing inside her.

Questions her father refused to answer.

She found him in the throne chamber - a black-marble hall lit with floating lanterns that cast firelight across a throne carved from obsidian and bone. He sat with a weariness she hadn't seen before, cloak draped loosely, shadows moving beneath his skin.

"You kept things from me," she said, stepping forward.

He didn't deny it.

"There wasn't time."

"There's never time when it's the truth."

His eyes met hers - molten, tired. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

And so, he told her.

Of the war.

Of her mother's betrayal of Heaven's laws. How she had fled with Seraphina still in her womb, hiding in the mortal world. How the angels declared her an abomination. How the court of Velmora - once her mother's refuge - had turned on them both.

"But why didn't you come for us?" Seraphina asked. "Why let me grow up thinking I was just... nothing?"

His voice cracked. "Because the moment I stepped into the mortal realm, Heaven would have destroyed us all. I stayed away... to keep you alive."

Her anger fractured.

But before she could respond, the chamber doors creaked open.

A cloaked figure stepped in - a servant of Umbraeth, one of the few who dared enter the throne room without being summoned.

"My Lord," they said, bowing low. "She's here."

The Demon Lord rose slowly.

Seraphina tensed. "Who?"

"The one who betrayed your mother," he said darkly. "The one who sold her to the Seraphim."

They descended into the deepest halls of the castle - where the walls bled mist and the chains hanging from the ceiling whispered memories in tongues no longer spoken.

The prisoner waited in a cage made of bone and silver.

Seraphina stepped closer, heart pounding.

And then she saw the face.

Her stomach dropped.

It wasn't some angel or shadow-skulled traitor.

It was someone she knew.

Lady Marcelline.

Her childhood caretaker. The woman who had cradled her during fevers, whispered lullabies when nightmares came. The one she trusted - when the world turned its back.

"Marcy?" she breathed.

The woman lifted her head.

Her once-golden hair was now dull, but her eyes - violet, calculating - were unchanged.

"Hello, little flame," she said softly. "I wondered when you'd find me."

Seraphina couldn't move.

"You betrayed my mother."

"I saved her," Marcelline snapped. "I kept her alive as long as I could. But she made a choice - she loved something she wasn't supposed to."

"She loved him," Seraphina said, motioning toward her father. "And she loved me."

"And you were always meant to be a weapon," Marcelline hissed. "Not a daughter. Don't fool yourself - Althea loved you, yes. But she also feared you. We all did."

Seraphina shook her head. "You told the Seraphim where we were. You handed her over."

"I did," the woman said, unapologetically. "Because if I hadn't, they would've taken you. And they would've torn you apart just to study what made you possible."

Something in Seraphina's chest cracked.

"You think that makes you a savior?"

"I think it makes me the only one who did what had to be done."

Kael appeared behind her then - silent and dark as ever.

"She deserves death," he said.

But Seraphina didn't respond.

Because something in Marcelline's words rang too close to the truth.

Later, she sat alone in the courtyard, where the black roses bloomed.

Her hand hovered above them.

They didn't burn this time.

They bowed.

And from the edge of the shadows, Kael watched her.

"You didn't kill her," he said.

"She raised me."

"She betrayed you."

"Both can be true."

He nodded once.

Then stepped closer.

"She was right about one thing."

Seraphina arched a brow. "Which part?"

"You're becoming something no one can predict."

She looked up at him, unsure if it was praise or a warning.

Maybe both.

And then he said something that chilled her.

"Your mother was never meant to survive you."

Seraphina's voice lowered. "What do you mean?"

Kael hesitated - then finally spoke, voice grave.

"There's an old prophecy, hidden even from the angels. It speaks of a girl born of both fire and grace. One who would shatter the balance between realms. Her power would be too great - even for her parents. They would fall. One by love. One by choice."

Seraphina stood, fists clenched.

"You think that's me?"

"I know it is."

"And what if I refuse to be their weapon? Or yours?"

Kael's eyes glowed brighter - but softer.

"Then I'll fight to protect you. Even from yourself."

That night, Seraphina stared into the mirror in her chambers.

She saw the fire in her eyes. The wings made of smoke. The crown of shadow forming faintly behind her.

She didn't look like a girl anymore.

She looked like a storm.

And storms don't ask for mercy.

They choose who survives.

To be continued...