Chained to old wounds

CH81

Tsuneo

“This is where she rests, Father said. “As every Phoenix before her has rested until her dragon joins her.”

My heart ached at the thought, but I approached the coffin. As I approached, I felt a surge of power coursing through me, a connection to her that felt comforting and frightening at once. I could see the light eddy and pool around Father as if it would pull him down into death after her.

As I leaned closer to the sarcophagus, my!

y heart pounded in my chest. The woman within, my mother, was bathed in an ethereal glow, her skin shimmering with an unnatural light. It was a sight both mesmerizing and terrifying.

“There’s something wrong. Morgan said suddenly.

“What?” Father asked. “What do you mean?”

Morgan shook her head. Her eyes filled with a strange light. A wave of dread washed over me. There was something about the light in her eyes that gave me pause. The light seemed to grow brighter and engulfing us all. The silence around us seemed to grow deafening. It was blinding, but the radiance of it seemed to fill the room with a sense of peace and tranquility. As the light faded, I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the sudden dimness.

When my vision cleared, I gasped. Morgan was gone, vanished without a trace. Panic surged through me, a primal fear that ignited the dragon within

“Morgan?”

Father looked up, rubbing at his eyes and looking around.

“Morgan“” I roared, my voice echoing through the chamber. No one answered. There wasn’t e

even a trace of her being there.

turned back to where the two statues stood at the gateway. The two statues had moved, changed. Instead of holding the archway, they were now holding hands, blocking the entrance to it.

1 snarled, lying up into their faces.

“Where is she? I demanded, my voice filled with a sense of urgency. “Where did she go? Where did you take her?”

The statue said nothing. They simply continued to stare forward as if they had not heard me.

“Tsuneo, calm yourself.”

I cannot calm myself. Father, she’s gone.”

“I cannot feel her!”

My heart was studying in my chest. The fear clawed at my senses. The panic was overwhelming, stirring up my fury.

She was gone, vanished into thin air. I searched the room frantically, my eyes scanning every inch of the chamber. But there was no sign of her, no trace of her presence. Her scent was starting to fade.

I turned to Father. His eyes were wide, staring back at me,

“Father, what–

This is the

beart of the palate,” he said calmly. The heart of the kingdom. She is not hurt.”

alues not mean the will return.” My whole body started to shake.

Father nodded, bes expression gum. He dropped his gaze. Sit with me for a while?”

“Tuneo, look.”

I frowned, coming closer to the casket. I gasped.

My mother was gone as well.

Morgan.

The sunlight warned my face as I opened my eyes, the familiar scent of wildflowers filling the air. I sat up, my heart pounding in my chest. Where was 1? One moment before I had been in that cave, staring down at Tsuneo’s mother and now I was…

I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The vast meadow stretched out before me, a sea of green dotted with colorful wildflowers. The mountain, a familiar landmark, loomed in the distance, its peak shrouded in mist.

A sense of peace washed over me, a feeling of tranquility that was foreign to the usual state of me life, especially now, I stood up, stretching my limbs and taking in the beauty of the world around me. Then I looked up at the mountain and really looked at it. I knew this place. It had to be the valley beneath the mountain where I had been taken to the Trial. But that made no sense. The valley was barren. Had I been cast through time. Or was it just a dream?

Where was Tsuneo? The king?

I wandered through the meadow, I noticed something strange. Sitting in the grass, surrounded by a ring of wildflowers, was a woman who looked strikingly familiar. She was dressed in the same flowing robes that I had seen on Tsuneo’s mother in the casket, her hair adorned with a crown of flowers and the omate diadem that had been there as well.

I approached her cautiously, my heart pounding in my chest. As I drew closer, I grew more nervous. Tsuneo’s mother was dead, but not dead. 1 remember taking her body inside the casket felt strange. They had been something too alive about her, but not quite alive. She’d felt trapped within the casket, but resting.

She looked up as I approached, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

“Who are you?” she demanded, her voice cold and calculating.

There was an ancient quality to our voice that I couldn’t exactly place. Was that the power of the Phoenix or something else?

I hesitated, unsure how to respond. I knew she was powerful, but she sounded no older than me. Frozen in time..

Would that be my fate as well? In the scheme of things, that wasn’t the worst thing.

Tm Morgan,” I replied, my voice barely a whisper. “Who are you?”

She looked me over. Her

er eyes narrowing.

owing. “Why are you wearing my colors?”

I winced at the coldness in her tone. Tm… married to your son? Tsuneo.”

She jumped to her feet. “Married, to my son? What kind of trickery is this?”

1 flinched, feeling a little taken aback. “No offense, but I didn’t exactly choose it.”

She laughed, a cold, mocking sound that sent a shiver down my spine. “Choose? Do you think going through that arch is anything but a choice?

I set my jaw. ‘I assure you it wasn’t my choice.”

No woman who would–be married to my son would be here. Her voice filled with a mixture of anusement and contempt. Honestly, I know that my son is quite handsome, but you sound as pathetic as Ari, claiming to be something you aren’t and will never be.”

1 scoffed. “I’ve been insulted by a lot of people, but that has to take the cake. Don’t compare me to Ari. She’s insane, not just pathetic.”

She seemed taken aback by that statement, yet even more suspicious than before. She stood up, her eyes narrowing at me,

Tdi If it makes you feel any better. She attacked me on my first day in the palace and has been a pain in the ass since.” I rolled me eyes. How anyone.

The palace could have let her go on like this for so long, is beyond me. But they don’t exactly have the greatest security measures either. I mean who

CHB1

just lets some random–”

The air shifted. In a flash, she drew her sword and lunged at me. The blade in her hand glinted and gleamed with an opalescent and sheen. It looked just like my sword.

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