A Painting of Sorrow Beneath the Moonlight
The night hung over Raventhorn like a velvet curtain pierced by tiny wounds of stars. And in the silence that nearly froze the air, footsteps echoed softly along the long corridor of the palace.
Kaelion walked alone, his night robe still wrinkled, his silver hair uncombed. In his hand, he held a small, half-finished painting. The strokes were rough, the colors incomplete. But it was clear—it was his mother's face. Not as a queen... but as a woman. With a sorrowful gaze never shown in the throne room.
He stopped in front of his mother's chamber door and knocked gently.
"Mother?"
For a few seconds, there was no sound. Then the door opened, revealing Seraphine in a dark, thin nightgown, her hair falling freely. Her face looked exhausted, yet there was a softness Kaelion had never seen before.
"What is it, my son?" she asked softly.
Kaelion lifted the painting.
"May I finish this... near you tonight?"
Seraphine stared at the painting for a long time. Her chest felt as if something gripped it from the inside. She knew—this was not merely a sketch. It was the silent cry of her son, who had grown under the shadow of a mother known as a cold-blooded queen.
"Come in," she whispered.
That night, for the first time in years, Seraphine combed Kaelion's hair while they sat side by side on the sofa by the window. They didn't speak much, but the silence wasn't empty. It was a silence that healed.
Kaelion rested his head on his mother's shoulder.
"You can be gentle... if you choose to be."
Seraphine smiled, holding her son's hand.
"I've always wanted to be gentle with you. But the world forced me to become steel... before I ever had the chance to be a mother."
Kaelion closed his eyes. His tears fell silently, sliding down his cheeks.
---
Several floors beneath them, in a hidden room beneath the black altar, a glowing symbol shimmered on the ground. In a blaze of violet fire, Rai'el appeared in his human form—tall, handsome, with long black hair and crimson eyes that always burned with one hunger: Seraphine's presence.
He stood waiting. Seraphine arrived moments later, cloaked in a hooded black night robe. As soon as she entered, she embraced Rai'el without a word.
Rai'el exhaled with relief.
"Even a demon god can know longing."
Seraphine looked into his face.
"What are they saying in the Underworld?"
"The elder demons are growing restless. They smell your pregnancy, and they want the heir of my blood for themselves."
Seraphine gripped Rai'el's garment tightly.
"No. This child... does not belong to the world. He is mine. And yours."
Rai'el held her closer.
"We cannot hide forever, Seraphine. The realms above and below have sensed the scent of your blood. The Gods of Light have convened. They're sending their emissaries to this world."
Seraphine fell silent. Her gaze sharpened.
"Then let them come," she said quietly, yet sharply.
"And let them witness for themselves that what they call 'demon'... bears a love purer than anything they've ever preached from their altars."
Elsewhere, in an ancient temple shrouded by golden clouds, the god Vantris gazed down upon the world through the Mirror of the Sky. He tapped the floor with his staff of light.
"They must be eliminated before the gate between realms is opened."
Elyra, the goddess of love, rose from her throne.
"Rai'el is not your enemy. And Seraphine is no sinner. They are merely... different."
"Difference is the beginning of chaos!" Vantris roared. "The blood of two worlds must never be merged!"
But Elyra clutched the silver medallion hanging at her chest—a gift from Rai'el, long ago.
"I know what kind of love he can give. And I know you're afraid... not because they bring destruction. But because they bring hope—something that no longer lingers in your holy altars."
Vantris turned to her, his eyes sharp as blades.
"How dare you defend him... after he abandoned you?"
"I defend love," Elyra whispered. "Because it is the only thing that still makes us more human... than them."
---
That night, in her private chamber, Seraphine clutched her slowly swelling belly. She spoke softly to herself, like a chant.
"If you can hear this... know, my child, I do not know whether the world will greet you with an embrace or a spear. But I swear, the blood of anyone who dares to touch you... will be washed from the stones of this palace."
From the open window, the night wind carried the scent of a thorned flower that only blooms under the full moon—Nerakarna, a blossom said to appear only when a throne is fated to change hands.
It was an omen.
That the birth of this child would shake not just Raventhorn... but all of heaven and hell.
---
The Dark Lullaby Within the Queen's Womb
Dawn had not yet touched the skies of Raventhorn when Seraphine stood on the highest balcony of the northern tower. The morning wind tossed her dark hair, and beneath her thick cloak the color of aged blood, her body trembled softly—not from the cold, but from something else. A subtle movement within her womb.
It had been more than two months since the night she had united with Rai'el. And now, with every passing second, a new life grew within her—slowly but surely. Yet unlike her first pregnancy, this time, Seraphine felt something more ancient, more sacred, more dangerous.
Every dream she'd had since then was veiled in darkness, filled with the rumble of unknown voices and glowing red eyes that stared at her—not with hatred, but with hunger... and love.
---
Kaelion watched his mother from afar. He knew something had changed. The queen's movements were no longer as sharp as before. At times, Seraphine would pause mid-step just to close her eyes and gently place a hand over her abdomen, as though listening to something no one else could hear.
"Is she... unwell?" Kaelion whispered to the royal advisor, Grand Vizier Morken.
"The queen... is changing," Morken replied in a hushed tone.
"And the world is changing with her."
In the underground chamber of the palace, Seraphine summoned Rai'el once more. This time, her body trembled as the figure of her beloved emerged within the crimson light.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Seraphine asked, skipping all pleasantries.
Rai'el gazed at her stomach.
"His heart beats with two rhythms—human and demon. But more than that... he carries a potential even the heavens have never known."
"Are you afraid?" Seraphine asked.
"Afraid?" Rai'el stepped closer, caressing Seraphine's face.
"No. I'm captivated. But the world will not remain silent, Seraphine. The emissaries of the gods have already descended."
"Let them come," Seraphine whispered with a faint smile.
"They will witness that the love we've built... is stronger than any law ever written in the skies."
---
Meanwhile, in the heart of Liria's sacred forest—the sanctum of the gods of light—a young girl with golden hair and clear blue eyes sat upon a throne of water.
Her name was Lyneara, High Priestess of Light, and messenger of Vantris.
She received a vision of Seraphine.
"I have been ordered to slay that demon queen before her child is born," she declared.
But the water flowing beneath her throne whispered something else.
"Do not judge too quickly. What you see as darkness... may be a light you have yet to understand."
---
That night, Seraphine slept with Kaelion at her side. In her dreams, she stood in a garden of black roses.
Rai'el appeared in his true form, cloaked in dark wings.
"I will always protect you. I will shield both of you, even if the entire sky burns my body to ash," he said, embracing her from behind.
Seraphine wept in that dream.
And when she awoke into the real world, the tears still wet her cheeks.
But the smile on her lips... was stronger than any nightmare.
"If this is sin," she whispered to herself,
"then let all of heaven know... that I, Seraphine Raventhorn, chose love—even if that love was born of darkness."