Chapter 19
Cuvera was frantically walking90Please respect copyright.PENANA05xlRjoKHV
around his room dressed in his wedding attire. If Vander thought his outfit was90Please respect copyright.PENANAsjLcyQ35GF
beautiful, it had nothing on the crown prince’s. He was wearing a beautiful90Please respect copyright.PENANAVFhuMY8nCM
sapphire colored gown with white trim along the edges. His hair was slicked90Please respect copyright.PENANAhSo1DBTClg
back revealing his forehead and he wore a silver necklace with a sapphire gem90Please respect copyright.PENANA9RtXbm29Ue
hanging from it. His boots were polished to perfection, which Vander reminded90Please respect copyright.PENANAmwlUYLZHxX
him of that fact so he would stop pacing. He sat down on the bed and held his90Please respect copyright.PENANAigtAFOWDbB
head in his hands. Vander knew better than to talk to him while he was like90Please respect copyright.PENANAEbLB9C38AI
this so the two of them sat quietly until Cuvera was ready.
“Do you think my father was this90Please respect copyright.PENANArxCk5TO2jC
nervous before his wedding?” Cuvera looked up at Vander.
“Probably.” Vander shrugged. “I90Please respect copyright.PENANAEqerj3kokb
wasn’t around for it so I wouldn’t know for sure.” Cuvera punched Vander’s90Please respect copyright.PENANAIQDlt1Zxm5
shoulder.
“No shit.” He snorted. “I’m asking90Please respect copyright.PENANA1ymOvCCD2z
what you think.”
“Probably was.” He responded. “Isn’t90Please respect copyright.PENANAgQpcKRRFhg
everyone a little nervous when they decide to marry someone?”
“I’m not sure.” Cuvera sighed.90Please respect copyright.PENANAh3oISWWpmY
“But I have more pressure than that since it’s political, I don’t want to mess90Please respect copyright.PENANAj7qCdqYqD7
this up.”
“You won’t.” Vander squeezed his90Please respect copyright.PENANAdWDxtScDDx
friend’s shoulder. “Just remember Kiara is probably more nervous than you are.90Please respect copyright.PENANA3fJEqHt5gs
She moved into enemy territory to marry a man she didn’t know. If things go90Please respect copyright.PENANAmd2gGcsnNB
poorly both countries will be back at war. Neither one of you want that.”
“Yeah, your right.” Cuvera let out90Please respect copyright.PENANAUCwmpYKh9l
a sigh. He got up from the bed then walked towards the door. “Will you come90Please respect copyright.PENANAUoknkcwuTc
with my to visit mom?” Without saying a word, Vander stood up from the bed and90Please respect copyright.PENANAP6h7yDRAF2
nodded. The two of them left the room with Shea following behind.
The memory of his mother was90Please respect copyright.PENANAq40GkKjfGZ
etched into the garden she left behind, but her body was placed in the Crypt of90Please respect copyright.PENANAvuuo2BuilI
Queens, located next to the Crypt of King’s deep below the castle’s mausoleum.90Please respect copyright.PENANAsbBJ5lsXUq
It was guarded by a crypt keeper who was dangerous as she was scary. Her family90Please respect copyright.PENANAmjWkrMFI8Q
had protected the crypts since the city’s founding, and they took their duty90Please respect copyright.PENANAGgCUKdmvFf
very seriously. Right now, due to the90Please respect copyright.PENANAEHR1ElfNF6
amount of people in the castle, the crypt was locked by the keeper who was90Please respect copyright.PENANAPokTHNn0OG
standing in front with a shovel in her hands. No one knew where she lived, but90Please respect copyright.PENANAPYEfdiKinz
many suspected she had a room inside the crypt.
“Prince.” She whispered, bowing90Please respect copyright.PENANA9oG2vtKcaQ
her head in respect. She was tall and broad shouldered but walked with a slight90Please respect copyright.PENANA790VCAYN0e
hunch. Her skin was pale and had light gray eyes. Her hair hung in strands from90Please respect copyright.PENANAKQxnuylyFn
her head, but her arms were chiseled from marble. Vander had seen her lift a90Please respect copyright.PENANAJ4s6F46wzW
coffin by herself once before. She was someone you didn’t want to fuck with.
“Hello Crypt Keeper.” Vander90Please respect copyright.PENANADz4ZIsPIZo
returned the bow. “I’m here to visit my mother.”
“I expected you to be here today,90Please respect copyright.PENANA0hOYYZoxbj
so I have already tidied up the crypt for you.” she said. “Is the Captain going90Please respect copyright.PENANAAHXQQTOQAI
to be joining you?”
“If you don’t mind.” Cuvera asked.90Please respect copyright.PENANA5qSVSs0Vvu
“He is my guard for the day, so I can’t just leave him.”
“Understood.” She stepped aside to90Please respect copyright.PENANAEYKzcB9Mrj
remove a ring of keys from her belt. She placed an old iron one into the gate,90Please respect copyright.PENANAOPEGDfRgoX
he heard a click, then the gate swung open. “If you wouldn’t mind following90Please respect copyright.PENANAYVvsQWfq4F
me.” Vander instructed Shea to watch the gate as the two of them followed the90Please respect copyright.PENANAf0XoCiOBwt
Crypt Keeper underground.
The first thing Vander noticed was90Please respect copyright.PENANAOZXZabeXIx
the cold air that wafted up from the depths. He always felt something odd when90Please respect copyright.PENANAUyjet1Lcs5
he visited, a supernatural feeling that he was being watched. Swallowing his90Please respect copyright.PENANA5stqULI0ol
fear, he took up the rearmost position as the Crypt Keeper grabbed a lit torch90Please respect copyright.PENANAuqmP5JpRW9
and led the way towards the Crypt of Queens.
It took them five minutes to come to90Please respect copyright.PENANAqhtnsDih8u
a fork in the road. Without skipping a beat, she took the path on the right.90Please respect copyright.PENANA5Qh5oHeM6m
The Crypt of Queens was where all the past and future Queens would be buried90Please respect copyright.PENANAYxgDg5mjWo
when their time came. As Cuvera’s mother was the most recent Queen to die, her90Please respect copyright.PENANAiQ23uJghvS
tomb was the closest to the surface. It was tucked in a little hallway that90Please respect copyright.PENANAAI7kdb5wB3
opened into a full-sized room. There were five caskets placed inside, only two90Please respect copyright.PENANAEFG2TBYBIE
of them were in use. The casket that was draped with a blue and white cloth was90Please respect copyright.PENANADUMqMCVHML
Cuvera’s grandmother, Malcolm’s mother. She had inherited the throne from her90Please respect copyright.PENANAQPPQZiVfB4
father when he died then she married a noble to produce strong heirs. Cuvera’s90Please respect copyright.PENANAfQMy64eTsm
mother was adorned with a simple cloth marking her status as a commoner. Vander90Please respect copyright.PENANA1ixSud5UK3
didn’t know the store on how Malcolm and Julie met, but he knew they loved each90Please respect copyright.PENANA2kaPDpfNgr
other. He had nearly executed nobles who expressed their disdain for placing a90Please respect copyright.PENANAwlTYe0pUDc
commoner in the Crypt of Queens, but Cuvera talked him out of it. She was given90Please respect copyright.PENANAvlb47RRwKi
a small ceremony before being escorted down below.
“I will leave you now.” The Crypt90Please respect copyright.PENANAipvuJZBaNS
Keeper bowed her head. “I trust you know your way back up?”
“I do.” Vander said.
“Then I will leave the two of you90Please respect copyright.PENANA7oM4WyUJpv
alone.” She smiled. “I will also keep anyone else from coming down her until90Please respect copyright.PENANAHYS0Xsx9v4
you arrive back up.”
“Thank you.” Cuvera bowed down in90Please respect copyright.PENANAFCLmWXM8qP
front of the casket then placed his hands together and closed his eyes in90Please respect copyright.PENANAOSBCNOmgTs
prayer. Vander didn’t want to overhear his friend’s chat with his mother, so he90Please respect copyright.PENANA9kqXY7ZuTI
decided to make himself scarce. He decided to take an impromptu trip through90Please respect copyright.PENANAogiqgFQJRc
the crypt.
He didn’t want to disturb anyone’s90Please respect copyright.PENANA0iHfHhdEhu
rest, so just stuck to hallways. Eluvian’s were particular about the dead.90Please respect copyright.PENANAxLWuaQ6MMR
Vander had long believed that there was nothing after death, just a black void90Please respect copyright.PENANAjQEjoDyjdN
that your consciousness floated in for the rest of time. He wasn’t going to see90Please respect copyright.PENANAZN8dJFDws0
it himself because once he died his soul would be claimed by Unna and he would90Please respect copyright.PENANAfRhus1t77J
be forced, like all the other mindless beasts in her forest, to fight and kill90Please respect copyright.PENANArDQKfeMc5A
for survival. Eventually he would lose anything that made him human.
As he ventured further down the90Please respect copyright.PENANAnQbeDFPXfU
crypt, things grew cold. It wasn’t unexpected since he was further underground,90Please respect copyright.PENANAusEPqmtnvV
but the rate at which is became cold alarmed him. He turned around to head back90Please respect copyright.PENANAH3uRt8C5im
towards the surface, but he found that he was stuck inside of a sealed off90Please respect copyright.PENANAMXwQzZbD5m
room. Mist circled around him, clawing his leg. He heard stone moving on stone.90Please respect copyright.PENANAmO74fxPhdF
As he turned around, a skeletal hand popped out from the sarcophagus. Bone90Please respect copyright.PENANA2Wr3V4I9MD
tapped against the side as a skeleton that had long been since stripped of its90Please respect copyright.PENANAowKJLU6gxf
flesh popped out. It was wearing a torn cloak that had been nearly destroyed90Please respect copyright.PENANA5Mzjt6g5cl
along with rusted armor that still clanged as it pulled itself up from the90Please respect copyright.PENANA1WuBxKV0cP
coffin and stood in front of Vander.
Vander tried to move, but the mist90Please respect copyright.PENANAEIN3YXcbun
clung to him solidifying him where he stood. The skeleton opened its mouth then90Please respect copyright.PENANANWHZFIGx3Y
the mist removed itself from Vander then flowed right into the skeleton’s90Please respect copyright.PENANAgieShPVS6W
mouth. The mist formed skin on the skeleton and the more it inhaled, the more90Please respect copyright.PENANAIlJoVWEGKZ
lifelike the skeleton became. The armor became shiny as the cloak elongated to90Please respect copyright.PENANAE9DUkt78H5
its original length. After a few seconds the skeleton became human once again.90Please respect copyright.PENANAACx8SmQxTD
This was someone Vander recognized, but this man had died thousands of years90Please respect copyright.PENANACKGizmr9Xp
ago.
“So, you’re Unna’s newest scion.”90Please respect copyright.PENANAfMPVU87Mzj
The man rasped. He wobbled over to Vander then grabbed his jaw to examine him.90Please respect copyright.PENANAvtqlKpteyk
He muttered to himself as he moved Vander’s head around. “Smaller than the last90Please respect copyright.PENANAYMk6ouWl74
one, but I can feel strength in you.” Vander smacked the man’s hand away.
“I’m getting real sick of the90Please respect copyright.PENANA3XHABFVjuI
Deities summoning me and giving me cryptic bullshit.” He snapped. “What do you90Please respect copyright.PENANACFJ06Sn9nQ
want?”
“That is no way to talk to your90Please respect copyright.PENANA9vGRdGwIvR
predecessor.” The man leaned up against his coffin.
“How is it you are here?” Vander90Please respect copyright.PENANAkcCt5lF4ij
snapped. “I was just in the Crypt of Queens and last I check you weren’t a90Please respect copyright.PENANATHaIIo04Op
queen in your past life.” The man was named Boar, and he was the first Blade90Please respect copyright.PENANADDqe3ZImyR
elected after Eluvia’s civil war shortly after the murder of the first king. He90Please respect copyright.PENANAPd7BvJSToJ
had been the son of the general who had done it.
“I have been given a brief90Please respect copyright.PENANAwlk2SlX8KW
reprieve to talk to you Vander.” The man said. “You have been brought to my90Please respect copyright.PENANA3eAZ1TLO8y
resting place, but no worry, once we are done here you will be taken back, and90Please respect copyright.PENANAf0CKs0EDrB
this will be the last time you are bothered for a long time. The deities are90Please respect copyright.PENANAFbms8TX8nu
losing their powers, they need some time to recover.”
“What’s got them so bent out of90Please respect copyright.PENANANp05tPKHlP
shape that they needed to send you to talk to me?” Vander crossed his arms.90Please respect copyright.PENANA1Q6yHTyN2b
“And why have they not told me before now during the numerous times they’ve90Please respect copyright.PENANAHWjQaBetph
bothered me?”
“The deities see time as90Please respect copyright.PENANAuKP7G3ySOA
scattered, not linear like us, so sometimes things escape them.” He shrugged.90Please respect copyright.PENANACEM6UWMFSZ
“Plus, they’ve been busy looking for someone. Imitae, he has been missing.”
“That’s not news.” Vander scoffed.90Please respect copyright.PENANAgWlVrCGxco
“He’s been wandering around since the beginning of time after the war with90Please respect copyright.PENANA2Xir1q4Qcy
Darkness. Makes sense that they can’t find him.”
“The deities relate to one90Please respect copyright.PENANAUkOb6kLNTq
another; they can always feel each other despite the distance. But not now.90Please respect copyright.PENANAEH4hv4DHQl
It’s as if he just disappeared.” Boar explained. “Now the deities are divided.90Please respect copyright.PENANADUVwHYc9ih
Some have turned on each other.”
“Explains why Veyar was trapped in90Please respect copyright.PENANAAD9fX8bB7A
a storm when I saw her a couple weeks ago.” Vander frowned. “I assume that’s90Please respect copyright.PENANAzXoOt4UMHh
Rolous’ doing?”
“Indeed.” Boar nodded. “I’m here90Please respect copyright.PENANAAZ65hpkzPd
to tell you something. There is a book within the King’s library, something you90Please respect copyright.PENANAEcQUlep4fq
must steal.”
“A book?” Vander asked. “What kind90Please respect copyright.PENANAbzdC0wCwgf
of books?”
“You were shown it the last time90Please respect copyright.PENANAuHzFMDkJGK
you were in Malcolm’s office.” He explained. “It’s of vital importance, you90Please respect copyright.PENANAkNQHvMn2fg
must not let your enemies get their hands on it.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
“Then the world will be at risk.”90Please respect copyright.PENANAtb6bkFti7u
Boar narrowed his eyes. “You must do this, Veyar demands it.”
“The deities have been nothing but90Please respect copyright.PENANA5EKniFtO1w
a curse.” Vander spat.
“I cannot promise there will be a90Please respect copyright.PENANAtjds9utV7U
happy ending, all I know is that everything will end if you don’t do this.”90Please respect copyright.PENANAXyPb7hsABm
Boar’s voice became serious. “Protect that country Vander, do your duty as a Blade, no matter what happens.” With that90Please respect copyright.PENANAGefeCVcb8J
Boar tapped his shoulder then stepped back towards the coffin. He released all90Please respect copyright.PENANAyUkelCGqj8
the mist that he had held before slipping back into the coffin and sliding the90Please respect copyright.PENANAqZm3fuatyU
top shut.
Vander bolted up from the ground90Please respect copyright.PENANAJ7G6l68xwP
with his heart beating in his chest. He looked around and saw that he had been90Please respect copyright.PENANA3a4HRwtYDl
leaning up against the wall just outside of the area where Cuvera’s mother had90Please respect copyright.PENANALlmnuEXNwy
been buried. Cuvera walked out a moment later with a small smile on his face.90Please respect copyright.PENANASQNHhMn3UV
Vander contemplated telling his friend what had transpired, but he didn’t want90Please respect copyright.PENANATeOwKQ3W0s
to ruin the joy that was plastered on his friend’s face. He didn’t even think90Please respect copyright.PENANADZVSCZsChZ
he would believe him.
“Did you get what you needed?”90Please respect copyright.PENANA06DsaPbSUc
Vander asked, wrapping his arms around Cuvera’s shoulders.
“I feel better.” Cuvera sighed. “I90Please respect copyright.PENANAzeEMHB5gGn
just look forward to tonight once the wedding is all over.”
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“Come, let’s get you married.”90Please respect copyright.PENANAjPrQ9LEIKO
Today might be hard for Cuvera, but tonight was going to be harder for him. He90Please respect copyright.PENANAI5ekibpQES
had to let someone he knew die when he could do something to save them. After90Please respect copyright.PENANAPBGuBlJJfY
tonight, he would have nothing to do with the deities and their sick games. He90Please respect copyright.PENANArc7rliZvs7
was done.