Chapter 3: The Shadow in the Lion’s Den

 

-ELERA-

The Obsidian Palace looked nothing like a home. It looked like a weapon carved from black mountain stone.

I crouched in the mud at the base of the perimeter wall, the rain plastering my hair to my skull. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird, but my hands were steady. Like the hands of a surgeon and a herbalist.

"Three," I whispered, watching the patrol pattern of the Lycan guards above. " Two… One."

The guards turned the corner.

I didn't have wolf speed nor Alpha strength. But I had desperation. And I had chemistry.

I pulled a small, wax-sealed pouch from my belt. Inside was a blend of crushed Valerian root, concentrated Lavender oil, and a pinch of Midnight Moss. It was a potent, fast-acting sedative I had brewed myself.

I didn't plan to kill anyone. Killing a Lycan guard would bring an army down on the Rogue City. I just needed them to sleep for a bit.

I tossed the pouch over the wall, letting the wind carry the faint, sweet scent downward. And soon the sound of heavy bodies hitting the floor followed.

"Forgive me," I murmured, throwing my grappling hook that was a rusted piece of rebar tied to a climbing rope, over the parapet.

The rough stone tore at my palms as I climbed but I didn't feel the pain. Only the burning clock ticking down in Leo’s chest. Every second I wasted was a second his heart struggled to beat.

I vaulted over the wall and landed in a crouch. The two guards were slumped against the tower walls, snoring softly. I checked their pulses. Strong and steady. They would wake up in an hour with a headache, nothing more.

I stepped over their bodies, sticking to the dark corners of the courtyard. The palace was a labyrinth of shadows and cold stone, but I had studied the layout from the maps back in camelot. I knew exactly where the Royal Sanctuary was.

Each time I encountered more patrols, I used my powders, holding my breath as the Lycans dropped before they could even howl an alarm. 

My stealth wasn’t born of magic. It was what five years of groveling, hiding and surviving had turned me to.

Finally, I saw it. The Royal Sanctuary.

It was a glass domed chamber attached to the King’s private quarters. And even from here, I could see the faint, ethereal glow pulsing from within it.

The Moonfire Orchid.

I picked the lock on the glass door and slipped inside. It was a simple mechanism. Likely because Lycans relied on strength, not finesse.

The air in the sanctuary was warm and thick with the scent of ozone and blooming jasmine. And there, in the center of a raised stone dais, grew the Moonfire Orchid. Its petals were pure silver, glowing with a soft, internal luminescence that seemed to breathe.

"Leo," I breathed, tears pricking my eyes. "I  found it."

I approached the dais, my hands trembling as I reached for the flower, fingers brushing the petals softly. This was it. I just needed to pluck it, slip back into the shadows, and run before the guards woke up.

Click!

I heard the small, distinct, mechanical sound of the door lock behind me.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees in a heartbeat. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Not from cold, but from pure, primal instinct. The kind of instinct that tells a rabbit a wolf is watching.

"Most intruders don't make it past the outer wall," a deep voice rumbled from the shadows in the corner of the chamber. Smooth as velvet, and dark as a grave. "Those who do usually leave a trail of corpses."

I turned slowly, my hand still hovering over the flower as King Darius stepped out of the darkness.

He was massive. That was the first thing my brain registered. He was well over six feet, with shoulders that strained the fabric of his black dress shirt. His hair was dark, falling over steel blue eyes. 

He didn't look like the pictures in the history books. He looked worse. Like a storm contained in flesh.

He walked toward me with fluid and silent steps. 

"But you," Darius said, stopping five feet away, nudging a sleeping guard who had been posted inside the door with the toe of his boot. " You put my elite guards to sleep, without raising a single alarm."

He looked at me, his gaze traveling from my muddy boots to my hooded face, sniffing the air.

"And you have no scent," he noted, his eyes narrowing. " Or rather, you smell like... dirt and peppermint. A masking agent."

I couldn't breathe. The aura radiating off this man was suffocating. It was like Alpha power, but magnified a hundred fold. It demanded submission. It demanded I kneel.

I locked my knees, refusing to bow. "I need the flower," I said, my voice shaking but audible.

"Need?” Darius raised an eyebrow. “ People need water. People need air. You are stealing a royal treasure, worth more than your entire city."

"My son is dying," I blurted out. " He has Mana Burn. This is the only cure."

Darius stopped. The cruelty in his eyes flickered, replaced by something unreadable as he looked at the sleeping guard again, then back at me.

"You infiltrated the most secure fortress in the continent, incapacitated four of my best killers without shedding a drop of blood... for a child?"

"I would burn this castle to the ground for him," my words echoed through the glass room as my chest heaved sharply, betraying my confidence.

Darius stared at me. For a second, I saw a flash of respect in his steel eyes. I thought he might even let me go.

Then the steel hardened.

"A touching sentiment for a walking corpse," Darius said coldly. " Sorry. But I don't let thieves walk out of my palace."

Then he moved. One heartbeat, and he was across the chamber. I didn’t even have time to reach for the small knife on my hip before his hand closed around my throat, pinning me against the stone dais, the glowing orchid just inches from my ear. He held me there, not choking, just reminding me how easily he could.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't snap your neck right now," he whispered, leaning down so his face was inches from mine. "And don't tell me it's because you're a mother. The world is full of orphans."

I stared into the eyes of the Lycan King, the man known as a monster, knowing I had only seconds to live.

"Because," I choked out, my hands gripping his wrist, " I'm the only one who can wake your guards up."

Darius paused, a dangerous smirk spreading across his face. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a predator who had just found a toy that didn't break.

"Is that a threat, little thief?" he asked softly.

"It's a negotiation," I gasped.

Darius tightened his grip slightly, his eyes searching mine.

"You have courage," he murmured. "But it seems you have a death wish."