CHAPTER LXV
A Light That Couldn't Save the Dark
Celeste Point Of View:
The world around me was withering, quite literally. The trees, once tall and green with pride, were now crumbling into black ash, as though their very essence had been ripped away. It felt like the land itself was mourning. I kept running, pushing my legs beyond their limit because I had to reach her—Cael—before it was too late. My heart pounded in my ears, louder than the crunch of the dying leaves beneath my feet. I didn't care that the sky had turned an ominous grey, or that the winds howled as if warning me to turn back. I couldn't. I wouldn't.
As I burst into the grand palace, I didn't stop. My feet carried me straight to the Royal Court, where I knew my mother—Queen Elyon—would be. But what I saw the moment I entered… shattered something inside me.
Cael was kneeling before the throne, her head bowed in silent surrender. A dagger, cruel and merciless, was lodged deep into her back. Blood stained her once vibrant dress, and her hair clung to her face like shadows. Yet she knelt there—not in defeat, but in loyalty. In love.
The entire hall was cloaked in a deathly silence. My father, King Orion, stood still. The fairy ministers, my friends Flash, Chiko, Rira, even the guards… none of them moved. No one spoke. Their faces wore the same expression—grief, confusion, perhaps guilt. The room that once held power and purpose now felt like a graveyard.
I stepped closer to Cael, my hands trembling as I reached out to touch her. But before I could, my mother screamed, "Celeste, don't! Don't touch her! Her body is brimming with dark energy—it will harm you!"
I turned to look at her, and for the first time, I didn't see my mother—the queen—I saw a stranger. I said through clenched teeth, "No, Mother. You're the one who has harmed me. Cael has never been a danger to me. She loves me. She would never hurt me."
My mother's voice cracked as she snapped, "Love? What love, Celeste? Have you forgotten? She forced you into marriage! She deceived you!"
Tears welled up in my eyes. "You're wrong. No one forced me. I chose Cael. I love her. I always have."
She looked furious, shaken. "This isn't Cael… this is Vorgath—the very being who once tried to destroy everything! She's cursed, tainted. And so long as she lives, peace will never return to Fairyland."
I felt something break in me. "Then you killed her... both of them. You killed my Cael. You killed my Vorgath. Why, Mother? Why?!"
Her reply came like a blade: "For the good of all. For peace. Cael is a curse upon this land."
I stood there, heart shattering in my chest, when suddenly, a voice echoed around us—a divine voice, powerful and calm. Only I, along with Flash, Chiko, and Rira, could see who it belonged to.
The Moon God.
He appeared like moonlight in motion, and his voice wrapped around my soul. "Cel, I grant you one final minute with her—Caelum. Say what your heart must say. After that... she may no longer be yours to find."
And with that, a gentle light burst from his hands and flowed into Cael's body like a wave of silver mist. Her chest moved. A breath. Then another. Her eyes fluttered open—weak but alive.
"How is this possible?" my mother whispered in disbelief.
But I didn't waste a second. I knelt beside her and took her face in my hands. "Cael, please don't leave me. Not now. Not again. If this is punishment for convincing you to try and talk to our mothers, to try and find peace—then I'm sorry. You were right. They were never going to understand us, our love. But please, don't make me live in a world where you don't exist."
Cael looked at me, her voice a broken whisper, yet it still carried the weight of a lifetime. "Cel… I never told you everything I wanted to say. I thought… one day, when things were better, I would. But that day never came. So I'll say it now."
Her lips quivered, and a single tear slipped down her cheek.
"Celeste, Princess of Frosthevan… knowing who I am—knowing what I've become—will you still love me? Will you still marry me, even if I'm no longer a fairy of light, but a creature born of shadows? Will you kiss me every morning and hold me every night? Will you still let me be yours?"
My heart shattered and bloomed at once. I whispered, "Yes. Yes, a thousand times."
She smiled weakly. "I love you, Cel. I love you more than time, more than fate, more than life. I'm sorry… I couldn't live by your side, and I couldn't even die holding your hand. But… I'm taking your love with me. Forever. Just… hold me. One last time."
I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her close, and kissed her like it was our first and last. As our lips met, her body began to glow—like moonlight dissolving into morning sun. Then she… faded. Her form lifted into the air, dancing with the wind, and disappeared.
Only a small locket fell to the ground.
I picked it up, hands shaking, and opened it.
Inside, etched in gold and silver, were two symbols—the sun and the moon, day and night—together.
She had tried to bind her darkness with my light. She had tried to change. To heal. To be mine.
But it was my light… that killed her.
Echoes of Betrayal
The air inside the palace had turned dense, heavy with grief, accusation, and something darker—betrayal. Just as the silence from Cael's disappearance began to settle like ash in our lungs, the grand gates of the palace burst open.
Mother Fairy, radiant and storm-eyed, walked in with fury blazing in every step. At her side was Ethan, the son of the witch Laila, and behind them followed the five powerful fairy princesses—Olivia, and the others who had once trained beside me, laughed with me, and sworn allegiance to peace.
As they entered the hall, everyone turned. Tension crackled like a storm waiting to strike.
Mother Fairy didn't hesitate. Her voice rang out, sharp and clear, "Queen Elyon—why? Why did you do this? Why did you kill Cael?"
My mother stood tall, her voice cold and composed as she answered, "She came here to destroy us all. She was a threat to every single one of us. I did what needed to be done."
But Mother Fairy's eyes narrowed, her face darkening with disbelief. "That's a lie. A coward's lie." Her voice trembled with restrained power. "No one here had the strength to defeat Cael in battle—not even all of us combined. And yet you claim to have killed her so easily? No, Queen Elyon. This wasn't a fight… this was a conspiracy. I smell it in this room. I feel it in my bones. You planned this."
A sharp gasp echoed through the room. The other queens and fairies looked at each other, some lowering their gazes in shame, some fidgeting, caught in the tension between silence and truth.
And then, unexpectedly, Flash stepped forward. His face was pale but determined, his voice barely more than a whisper at first—but steady. "They killed her with blessings. Not swords. Not spells."
I turned to him, stunned.
"They used the very things she trusted—their gifts, their rituals, their smiles—to mask betrayal. They disguised murder as mercy." Flash continued, staring directly at Queen Elyon. "Queen Luna handed her over to Queen Elyon… not for healing, not for justice—but to be sacrificed."
Murmurs spread like wildfire through the chamber.
Mother Fairy's eyes flared with anger. "You gave her death to using Tharros"
The room fell utterly silent at that name. Tharros. The ancient, cursed weapon forged from the bones of a life taken in ritual. A sword of power—but one that demanded blood and betrayal in return.
"She used Tharros?" Mother Fairy demanded. "Who was sacrificed for it? Who did Luna kill to awaken that sword's power?"
No one answered.
Because the truth was damning. Because the truth reeked of the very rot we had once vowed to never allow in Fairyland.
Ethan stepped forward then, his voice trembling—not in fear, but in fury. "You called yourselves queens. Protectors of this land. But you feared her. Cael's strength, her power, her love… it terrified you. So you cloaked yourselves in righteousness, and murdered the one person who was trying to bring unity. You took away my friend. You took away Celeste's heart."
I stood still, watching them all. My gaze fell on my mother. I was no longer looking at a queen. I was looking at the architect of my ruin.
Mother Fairy shook her head, her voice colder now. "You didn't just kill a girl, Queen Elyon. You killed a promise. You killed hope."
I clenched my fists. I wanted to scream. To cry. To fall apart. But instead, I stood frozen, the storm inside me gathering strength.
Because they had broken something sacred.
And I would never forgive them for it.
To be continue....