parentshiftbook Chapter 326: The Weeknd Evening 2
Chapter 326: The Weeknd Evening 2
Lor blinked against the candlelight.His eyes watered for a few seconds before they adjusted.
The room was stone. Arched ceiling. Torches in iron brackets along the walls. The floor was worn smooth by years of feet and time.
A large dark table ran along one side. Chains hung from the far wall on iron hooks, arranged neatly.
No sound from the city reached this far below the palace. No sound from anywhere reached here.
The air was cool and carried the mixed scent of candle wax, old stone, and a faint floral note.
Standing in front of him, close enough that he could have touched her if his hands were free, was a woman with long silver hair.
The hair was braided cleanly over one shoulder. Her face had high cheekbones, a soft jaw, and full lips that were curved in a warm smile.
She wore a black fitted corset top that held her breasts firmly and pushed them up just enough to show the soft upper curve of flesh.
Dark trousers sat low on her hips. Knee-high boots covered her calves.
The clothes fit her body tightly and cleanly.
She looked at him with warm, bright eyes.
Something else sat behind them, still and patient.
Lor’s wrists were still bound behind his back.
He could feel the cool air against the front of his body. He took the whole room in with one sweep of his eyes and then did what a Class D student would do when he found himself bound in an underground room beneath the palace.
He panicked.
"W-what—" He stumbled back half a step.
The movement pulled at the cord on his wrists. His eyes moved around the room in wide, frightened arcs.
"Where am I — what is this place —"
He twisted against the bindings. The cord dug into the skin of his wrists.
The movement looked clumsy and real. His breathing sped up. His shoulders tensed.
"I don’t know what’s happening." His voice cracked and went higher than usual.
"I was just walking and met Ameth— She said she had a surprise planned for me — I don’t know who you are or why I’m here — please, whatever this is, I think there’s been a mistake—"
He looked at her, eyes wide.
"This. This place. What is this place?"
Lor matched eyes with the woman.
"Please. Can you just tell me what’s happening? I don’t like this surprise. Can you call Ameth. Is it a prank?.."
The woman watched him with the same warm smile. Her head tilted a little to one side.
The silver braid shifted against the curve of her breast with the motion. The corset held her upper body still and upright.
When he finished, she laughed. The sound was light and easy.
"You really don’t know who I am."
It was not quite a question.
She clasped her hands loosely in front of her. The movement pressed her breasts together slightly against the black fabric of the corset.
"Almost everyone in this kingdom knows my face. It’s a little funny, honestly." She paused. "You are in Vaeloria. Below its palace, to be precise." Her eyes stayed bright and warm. "And I am Aurora. Its Princess."
Lor stared at her. He swallowed.
The motion made his throat move against the open collar of his shirt.
Then he spoke with the exact amount of desperate relief a person would show after learning their kidnapper was royalty and not a murderer.
"The — the Princess?"
"The Princess," she confirmed.
"Then — then there really has been a mistake," he said quickly. "Your Highness. I’m just a student. Lor Vayne. Class D, the academy. I’ve never — I don’t even know why Ameth brought me here, I was just walking in the forest and then she— I don’t know why— and now I’m — please, I haven’t done anything—"
"Calm down. I know who you are," she said.
That stopped him.
She walked to the table on her left and turned to lean against its edge.
She crossed one ankle over the other. The dark trousers pulled slightly across her hips and thighs.
The soft scrape of her boot against stone was the only sound for a moment.
"Lor Vayne. Class D. Lives with his mother Mira, his father Eren — who is currently in service of the High Mage’s court, or to be precise, his right hand man.." She gave a brief, pleasant smile.
"I know your family rather well."
Lor said nothing. His face kept the look of someone frightened and confused.
Inside he filed every word she said and what it meant. She knew his parents’ names. She knew his father’s posting. She had looked into him before this meeting.
The cord at his wrists kept his arms locked.
He could feel the heat of the nearby torch on the side of his face.
"I didn’t bring you here because you’ve done something wrong," Aurora continued in the same warm tone. "I brought you here because you have something that interests me very much."
She let the silence sit. The only sound was the soft crackle of the torches.
"The Guiding Light."
Lor blinked. "The — the what?"
Her eyes moved over his face. They lingered for a moment on his mouth, then returned to his eyes. "Don’t play innocent, Lor."
He held the silence for as long as a caught person would. Then he swallowed and said quietly, like someone whose last defence had just crumbled:
"...You know about that."
"I know about that," she confirmed.
"How?"
"I make it my business to know things." She tilted her head. The silver braid slid further over her shoulder and rested against the upper curve of her breast.
"What I don’t know — and what I want to know — is how you have it. I’ve looked into your family’s history very carefully. Your mother has no rare ability. Your father is a skilled tracker — no bloodline magic." She held his gaze.
"Two full generations of Vayne family records, and nothing of significance. So."
She waited.
Lor exhaled slowly. He looked at the floor. The motion made his shoulders shift against the pull of the cord. Then, in the voice of someone reluctantly giving up a secret.
"My grandfather."