Silent Coup and the Thorn That Slipped In
Night in Raventhorn was no longer just night.
It became a sky holding its breath, an earth swallowing its rage.
In the silence, something quietly grew—not a flower, not love... but betrayal, gleaming like a thorn behind the curtain.
The palace had turned cold.
Not from the season,
But from the countless eyes now slithering like nameless shadows.
The kitchen held whispers.
The halls hid coded letters.
Even the old wells became places where the servants dared to speak in murmurs—speaking one name with fear:
Seraphine.
But not in reverence, as they once had.
Now, they asked:
"Is she still human?"
---
That morning, Seraphine stood on the eastern balcony, gazing out at the royal gardens—gardens she once watered with blood.
Her usually unreadable eyes now flickered with unrest.
Her dark violet-black cloak billowed gently in the autumn wind. Her fingertips trembled as they brushed the cold stone railing.
Her belly felt warm.
Too warm.
The heartbeat within was no longer normal.
As if... the child she carried had begun to drain the magical essence around her.
As if... it wasn't just a baby.
It was an entity.
And that entity, in silence, longed to be known by a world that would grow to hate it.
Seraphine closed her eyes, recalling Rai'el's words from the night before:
> "Don't expect the world to love the fruit of our love.
But be ready… to tear apart anyone who tries to erase it."
---
Elsewhere in the palace, Kaelion sat in the Grand Library, sifting through ancient records of the kingdom.
Among them, he discovered a hidden journal—his father's.
Much of it had been lost to time, but one full page remained:
> "Seraphine is not who she once was.
She built walls between herself and all beings.
But sometimes, when night falls and she believes no one is watching… she cries.
Maybe I failed to touch her heart…
or maybe she was destined to be alone, until a time far away."
Kaelion stared at the words for a long time.
His heart trembled.
There was pain in his father's words—not hatred, but disappointment.
And within that pain, Kaelion began to understand something:
Maybe... his mother never learned how to love.
Not because she couldn't—
But because no one ever taught her how.
---
Meanwhile, in the underground chamber beneath the Church of Sky, High Priest Alduin led a secret meeting of nobles plotting to overthrow Seraphine.
"Our time is running short," he said, staring at a flickering candle, its flame trembling like an anxious heartbeat.
"The Queen's influence is spreading faster than we anticipated. Word is… she's pregnant."
Silence fell.
One young noble, Lord Vaenric, cried out:
"If she gives birth to an heir, we'll have two thrones! And if that child bears demon blood, we won't just face a threat to the kingdom—
but to the world itself!"
Alduin nodded solemnly.
"We must kill the child.
Even... before it sees the light."
"And the Queen?" another asked, hesitantly.
Alduin said nothing.
He merely raised an ancient cursed scroll… and set it aflame.
Its smoke twisted into the air, forming the symbol of a womb's death.
---
That night, as Seraphine reviewed royal letters in her chambers, a soft knock came at the door.
Not Kaelion.
Not a servant.
The knock was too calm.
Too… precise.
"Enter," she said without looking up.
The one who entered was Rai'el—but not in his demonic form.
He wore a nobleman's dark robe, his long black hair neatly combed, his beauty nearly inhuman.
But his eyes… still glowed red.
"Using shadows again?" Seraphine murmured, a faint smile on her lips.
"Doors are boring," Rai'el replied as he perched on her window ledge.
"You look exhausted."
"I'm no ordinary woman.
But lately… this body feels too ordinary."
She placed her hand gently on her belly.
Rai'el watched her in silence.
Then, for the first time, he knelt before her.
With tender fingers, he touched her womb.
His movements were so slow, so careful—
As if even his breath might shatter the world inside her.
"I've never loved anything like this," he whispered.
"You… and this child…
are the only reasons I endured thousands of years in the void."
Seraphine froze.
That word—love—fell into her soul like rain onto scorched earth.
She wanted to believe.
But fear coiled tightly around her heart.
"If you stay with me… you'll become the enemy of the world."
"I've always been the enemy of the world, Seraphine," Rai'el replied.
"But with you… I can finally live.
Not just be hated."
---
In the dead of night, as the palace slept, a servant crept into the kitchen carrying a letter.
She tucked it into a bread pouch and slipped into the back corridor leading to the Queen's chambers.
Unbeknownst to her, Kaelion was following quietly.
Just before she could slide the letter under the door, Kaelion grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth and pulling her into the shadows.
"What's in the letter?"
"F-forgive me, Your Highness… I…"
Kaelion snatched the letter and read it quickly.
His blood boiled.
> "Use the fifth potion. Mix it into her night tea.
After three nights, the womb will collapse.
She won't notice until it's too late.
Do it under the full red moon. —A."
---
The next morning, Seraphine summoned all the kitchen servants.
Her gaze swept across them like a storm.
"Is there anyone who wishes to confess," she asked calmly,
"before I send you all to the sanctifying chamber?"
Silence.
Then one female servant burst into tears and fell to her knees.
In her hand—
a dark reddish potion.
Before the guards seized her, Seraphine stepped forward.
She said nothing at first.
Only stared into the woman's trembling eyes.
And then, softly:
"If you had ever been a mother…
you'd know that the only pain worse than giving birth…
is being forced to lose your child by your own hand."
---
That night, Seraphine sat with Kaelion on the balcony.
No servants.
No protocol.
Just a mother and her son.
"I know you saved me this morning," Seraphine said quietly.
Kaelion gazed at the stars.
"I just didn't want to lose a child who hasn't even seen the world."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Seraphine asked,
"Do you hate me, Kaelion?"
Kaelion replied instantly,
"I want to hate you.
But that hate…
can't drown my curiosity.
I want to know…
who the woman who's now my mother truly is."
Seraphine turned to him. Her eyes shone with glassy emotion.
"Maybe…
you'll be the only person in this world
who ever finds out."
And for the first time…
they laughed.
A small, hesitant, human laugh—
shared only by two broken souls learning how to be whole.
---
Above the clouds, from an unseen dimension,
Rai'el watched them.
His face was calm.
But unrest burned behind his glowing eyes.
Because beyond the walls of the Church of Sky…
the gods of light had begun to move.
And their love…
was about to face the storm