Prince Arineth

 ~Lyrielle~

My eyes fluttered open to a blinding light stabbing into them. It was as sharp as a blade, and I quickly closed my eyes to adjust to the brightness. This was the netherworld; I was sure of it. I remembered the fire claiming me, and I should be dead, but then, as I shifted, I felt the softness pressed against my back. It was too real, too gentle for death.

Pain seared through my left side, a burning ache that made me gasp. My hand fumbled, brushing the thick bandages around my ribs, face, left hand, and legs. The memories of the fire came crashing in, and I recalled the look my mother had given me when she was about to be hanged, how my father’s blood had splattered on my face as he was beheaded, and how my brother had told me he loved me.

I shouldn’t be here. I should be in the netherworld, suffering for what I had done because of my greed.

The door creaked open, and two figures walked into the room. A man dressed in a dark cloak, the hood hiding his face, stepped forward. Beside him walked a woman whose features were concealed behind a smooth, featureless mask. A breeze followed the man, carrying a scent—something familiar tugging at the edges of my scattered mind. Cedarwood, sharp and earthy, mingled with the smoky tang of leather. It stirred a memory I couldn’t place, making my pulse quicken.

Who was this man, and why did he seem so familiar? Was he the spirit jailer? I didn’t know him, nor did I know the woman who had entered with him.

“So, you actually survived,” the man said, his voice low and sharp. He paused as he looked at me and then added, “Good that you are alive because your death would have been too easy a sentence for a greedy person like you.”

I froze as his voice struck a familiar chord, and when he pushed back the hood covering his face, my eyes widened in shock. That jawline, those piercing gray eyes—it was Prince Arineth. That was why the scent was familiar; it was the same one I had smelled on him two years ago. I felt my stomach twist as he approached the bed. “Prince Arineth?” my voice rasped, raw from fear. “You… you are here? Did you…” My eyes widened again when I remembered seeing him walk into the execution ground. Everything suddenly turned still when he arrived, as if everyone were frozen in time, and he had saved me from being completely engulfed by the flames.

“You pulled me from the fire? Why am I still alive? Why am I?”

He stepped closer, his face hardened with fury. The masked woman lingered behind him, head bowed, and said nothing. “Death was too kind for you,” he answered, his tone dripping with anger. “I dragged you out, patched you up—not to save you, but to make sure you wake up to this. To the ruin you made. I want you to feel every second of it.”

His words hit me like a lash, and I flinched.

“Feel it?” he asked.

My voice cracked as I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. Instead, tears streamed down my face. Yes, I could feel it because the connection between me and my family was gone. “It's Good that you can feel it.”

“Why…” I stuttered and bit my lower lip as I blinked the tears away. “Why did you save me just to punish me?”

He leaned in closer to me on the bed and smirked. “Punish you? Not enough. You wanted power, Lyrielle. You rejected me, your fated mate, because of it, and then you dragged your family with you. You let them die because of your greed, and now you will live with the ashes. Every breath you take from now on will remind you of what you have done.”

Another round of tears stung my eyes, spilling down my face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I sobbed. “I thought that if I got powerful enough, it would protect my family, and I…”

“And you would become the Luna Queen?” he chuckled. “Look at where your greed has gotten you. You have no family and no life anymore.”

“I didn’t do it…” I shouted, my voice sounding desperate. “I didn’t kill the third prince or sleep with him.”

Arineth tilted his head and nodded. “I know.”

“You do?” I asked, shocked by his response.

How was he supposed to know when he wasn’t even there on the day it had happened? I clearly remembered that he was at the border, fighting a war. “What do you mean by that?” I demanded, my heart pounding hard as if I were about to have a heart attack. “You weren’t even there.”

Arineth straightened, his expression unreadable. “I am not obligated to tell you anything. What you should be thinking about is how you will live your life in hell, remembering what you have done.”

The words broke something in me, and I let out a heart-wrenching sob. “Please let me die,” I begged, clutching the bandages on my chest. “Let me join my family. I can’t bear this.”

He sneered at me. “It’s selfish of you to think that this is the end. After what you have done, death is too fair for you. No, I’ll make sure you suffer—suffer so much for what you did. But first, you need to see something. I will show you something to make you see how stupid you are.”

I felt the dread pooling in my gut as I sensed something bad had happened. What worse could happen since I had lost everything? “What do you mean?”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “You’ve been sleeping for two weeks, and for those two weeks, a lot has happened.”

Two weeks? I couldn’t believe that my family had been dead for two weeks, and I couldn’t help but think about my family’s bodies. “What happened to my family and…”

He shrugged, and there was a cruel indifference in his gesture. “I was kind enough to bury them because they didn’t do anything wrong. Also, I replaced your body with someone else’s. You are dead, Lyrielle, both in name and face.”

The room suddenly spun, and I blinked as the light above me seared into my skull. Was I dead in name and face? My family was gone, my identity erased, and Prince Arineth stood there saying everything without compassion, only hate.

Do I deserve this?

“Get her ready,” Arineth said to the masked woman inside the room and moved toward the door. Just as he was about to walk out, I called his name.

“Your Highness, what are you going to do to me?” I asked, my voice shaking with fear.

Arineth paused, half-turned, and smirked at me. “Wait and see,” he responded, then walked out of the room, slamming the door shut.

I was left with the masked woman, and as she approached, I couldn’t help but wonder who she was under the mask. She said nothing as she moved toward me, slid her arm under mine, helping me sit up. Pain shot through my side, and I gritted my teeth, swaying as she balanced me on the bed.

“Who are you?” I asked out of curiosity but got no response. Instead, she unwinded my bandages, peeling away the stained cloth to reveal the raw, healing skin beneath. I tried to engage her again, my voice softer. “Please tell me something.”

Silence.

The masked woman worked without a word. Once she was done unwrapping the bandages, she brought out fresh new linen and began wrapping it around my body. I heaved a deep sigh and didn’t ask her anything else because I knew she wouldn’t say anything. Instead, I focused on Arineth’s words: Wait and see. What was he planning? What else could he show me to make the hell I was in worse? I had been asleep for two weeks while he buried my family, faked my death, and brought me here. The thought of my family’s bodies in the ground made my stomach churn.

They didn’t deserve to die.

Arineth was up to something, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was about to show me. Was it proof of my ruin? A twisted mirror of my mistakes? Whatever it was, it loomed like a shadow, and I could feel the dread tightening around my heart.