POV: Princess Lily
The morning light was cold and gray. Lukas entered the room, his eyes bloodshot. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a century. I didn't hide my fear anymore. I stood my ground, my hand resting on the bedpost.
"Lukas," I said, my voice steady despite the shaking of my knees. "Who is Annabelle?"
Lukas froze. The color drained from his lips until they were as blue as the sea outside. "Where did you hear that name?"
"She's here," I said, pointing to the corner where the ghost stood, holding her eyeless doll. "She says you've been lying. She says you didn't just lose your wife in an accident."
Lukas began to laugh—a high, brittle sound that set my teeth on edge. "She always was a talker. Even when I tried to quiet her."
"You killed her," I breathed. "Ten years ago."
"I wanted the crown!" Lukas shouted, his voice echoing off the obsidian walls. "Father loved Leo. Leo was the golden son. I was the shadow. Annabelle found out I was planning to exile him. She was going to tell... so I took care of it. I told everyone it was a carriage accident. A tragedy."
He stepped toward me, his eyes dark with a murderous light. "And now, history repeats itself. Leo is back from the dead, and you... you are the only one who knows the truth."
"I'm not lying," I said, looking at Annabelle. The ghost stepped forward, her cold hand reaching out to touch Lukas's cheek.
Lukas shivered, his eyes darting around the room. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her—the weight of ten years of guilt, the cold of the grave.
"You are rich with blood, Lukas," I said, repeating the words I'd said to Jack. "But you are poor in soul."
Suddenly, the ocean heart pendant in Lukas's pocket began to glow with a fierce, blinding light. The room shook as the high tide slammed against the castle. The ghost of Annabelle let out a silent scream, and the obsidian walls began to crack.
The truth was out. And the sea was coming to reclaim its own