POV: QUEEN ISOLDE
Timeline: Same night as the dinner
Location: Isolde's Hidden Fortress
Queen Isolde watches through her scrying mirror as four figures laugh together over dessert.
Her sons. Both of them.
Looking happy. Content. In love.
It makes her sick.
"They're getting comfortable," King Daemon observes from beside her. "That's good for us."
"Is it?" Isolde's voice is ice. "They're forming bonds. Alliances. The Sea God and Dark King are becoming friends."
"Friends who still argue."
"Friends who would defend each other." She waves her hand and the mirror image shifts. Shows Ravion's hand on Kieran's back. Protective. Possessive. "The Dark King is attached. Deeply attached."
"That makes him vulnerable."
"Or more dangerous." Isolde stands, pacing her throne room. "A king in love is unpredictable. He won't calculate. Won't think strategically. He'll just... react."
"Then we make sure he can't react." Daemon's smile is cruel. "We move fast. Take the boy. Be gone before he even knows we're there."
"And the Sea God? He's with Kaelis constantly now."
"Leave Kaelis to me." A new voice.
Isolde turns.
A woman emerges from the shadows. Tall, elegant, with dark hair and eyes that glow faintly purple. She's dressed in robes that shimmer like starlight, and power radiates from her in waves.
Asteria. The Storm Goddess.
"You came," Isolde says.
"You summoned. I answered." Asteria moves with liquid grace to the scrying mirror. "The Sea God. My old rival." Her smile is venomous. "I've been waiting centuries for an excuse to hurt him."
"You can hurt him all you want," Isolde says. "After you help me take my son."
"Kaelis." Asteria studies the mirror. "The chaos child. I've heard stories. He flooded three chambers yesterday?"
"Accidentally created sentient water constructs," Daemon adds, amused. "The boy is a disaster."
"A disaster with power." Asteria's eyes gleam. "Untrained. Uncontrolled. Imagine what I could do with that."
"You're not keeping him," Isolde says sharply. "He's mine."
"Of course." Asteria's smile doesn't reach her eyes. "I simply want to... study him. See what makes a prophecy child tick."
Isolde doesn't trust her. But she needs her.
The Sea God is too powerful to face alone. She needs someone equally powerful to distract him.
"The plan," Isolde says, returning to her throne. "We move in three days."
"Why three days?" Daemon asks.
"Because in three days, there's a lunar eclipse. The tides weaken. Nyx's power weakens." She looks at Asteria. "Your storms strengthen."
"Perfect timing," Asteria agrees.
"Daemon, you'll lead the team to Nocterra. Twenty of our best soldiers. Enhanced with my magic." She pulls out a vial of dark liquid. "Each soldier will drink this. It suppresses magical bonds temporarily. Enough to get past the Dark King's wards."
"And the boy?"
"Kieran will be weak. He's still recovering from the poison. His magic is suppressed. He won't be able to fight back." She smiles coldly. "You take him, bring him here, and we complete the binding ritual."
"What binding ritual?" Daemon asks carefully.
"The one that will transfer his prophecy bond to you." Isolde's smile widens. "You want to marry him? This ritual will make it possible. Break his bond with Ravion. Create a new one with you.."
Daemon's eyes light up. "You can do that?"
"With the right magic. The right timing. And the right... persuasion." She looks at the mirror again. At Kieran laughing with his twin. "The boy thinks he's safe. Thinks his love story has a happy ending." Her hand clenches. "He's wrong."
"And Kaelis?" Asteria asks.
"You and I attack the Tidelands together. While Nyx is weakened. While he's distracted." Isolde pulls out another vial—this one glowing blue. "This is concentrated storm essence. It will create a temporary rift in the Tidelands' defenses. We go in, take Kaelis, get out."
"The Sea God will fight back."
"Let him." Isolde's smile is vicious. "You'll keep him busy while I take my son. Then we both leave. He can't chase both of us."
"What if he chooses to chase you?"
"Then you collapse the rift behind us. Trap him in his own realm. By the time he breaks free—" She spreads her hands. "—we'll be long gone. Both boys secured. Both bonds broken. Both prophecies under my control."
Silence falls over the throne room.
"It's ambitious," Daemon says finally.
"It's necessary." Isolde stands. "Those boys are mine. They were born from my bloodline. Shaped by my plans. They belong to me. Not to some Dark King. Not to some Sea God. To me."
"And if they fight back?" Asteria asks.
"They're not helpless children. They have power."
"Kieran is weak from poison. Kaelis is untrained in his magic. Neither has combat experience. Neither can match us." Isolde's voice hardens. "And even if they could—they won't hurt their mother. That's their weakness. Sentiment. Love. Loyalty to family."
"You're counting on them not fighting you?"
"I'm counting on them hesitating.
Questioning. Wanting to talk instead of act." She looks at both of them. "That hesitation will cost them everything."
"Three days," Daemon confirms.
"Three days," Isolde agrees. "We end this. We take back what's ours. And we show these kingdoms that prophecy children answer to blood. Not bonds. Not love. Blood."
Asteria laughs—sharp and cruel. "I'm going to enjoy this."
"So am I," Isolde says softly, looking at the mirror one last time.
At her sons, laughing and happy and completely unaware.
Three days. That's all they have left.