Free Web NovelThe queen was sitting in her study. The room was wide, dark, and silent. The red curtains were drawn. Several lamps lit the shelves lined with reports, maps, and books.
On the desk lay open documents, seals, letters from nobles, and military reports.
Among them, a particularly irritating report about a conflict on the border of one of her allied kingdoms.
The queen held a sheet between her fingers.
Her red eyes moved slowly across the lines.
"…how reckless."
Her voice was soft, almost bored.
The report described a territorial dispute.
A minor ancient vampire family had crossed boundaries without permission, a group of human hunters had disappeared, and a border village was empty.
And now an allied kingdom was requesting support, discretion, and troops.
The queen set the sheet on the desk.
Then picked up another.
"They can't resolve anything without turning it into a wildfire."
The queen was about to write a response when the study doors burst open.
BAM!
A vampire ran in.
The guards tried to stop her, but she had already crossed half the room before dropping to her knees.
"Your Majesty!"
The queen didn't raise her voice.
Didn't even change her posture.
She simply lifted her eyes.
"I hope you have a good reason for entering like that."
The vampire lowered her head further.
"The Forge Cave!"
The queen's quill stopped.
For a second, the study went completely silent.
The queen set the quill on the table.
"Speak."
"The cave hasn't stopped shaking for the past two days."
The queen went still.
"Shaking?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The vampire swallowed.
"At first we thought it was a normal internal shift. But the tremors became more frequent. Every few hours. Then every few minutes. And since this morning…"
The girl hesitated and the queen narrowed her eyes.
"Continue."
"Since this morning, any attempt to approach the entrance triggers a reaction in the barrier."
The queen didn't respond.
"The runes light up. The internal doors vibrate. The ground around the entrance cracks…"
The queen slowly rested her fingers on the desk.
"Has the cave opened?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Did it show a completion signal?"
"No."
"Did it expel a body?"
The vampire paled slightly.
"No."
The queen was silent.
So Matt was still alive.
That was good.
Annoying.
But good.
The queen slowly leaned back in her chair.
"How long has she been inside?"
The vampire answered immediately:
"Approaching a year, Your Majesty."
The study went silent again.
This time, the silence was heavier.
The queen looked at the documents on the table.
The border reports stopped mattering.
"Approaching a year…"
Her voice came out quietly.
The vampire didn't move.
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The queen laced her fingers together.
Throughout the centuries, the Forge Cave had tested countless vampires.
Nobles.
Warriors.
Heiresses.
Princesses.
Some emerged with decent ego weapons.
Others came out wounded, broken, or without the dignity they had carried in.
Some didn't come out at all.
That was also normal.
The cave was cruel.
But it had patterns.
Royalty, by the purity of their blood, almost always conquered it in less than seven months.
Sometimes four.
Sometimes five.
The most exceptional in less.
Vampire nobles without such pure blood usually took longer.
A year.
A year and a half.
Even two, if they were stubborn, limited, or too proud to accept the cave's rhythm.
But Matt…
Matt had her blood.
Her direct blood.
Imperfect, yes.
Altered.
Complicated.
Separated from Iris.
But still her blood.
The queen closed her eyes for a moment.
"What a troublesome girl."
The vampire didn't dare correct her.
The queen opened her eyes.
Her expression stayed calm.
Too calm.
"Have there been changes in the barrier?"
"Only the tremors, Your Majesty."
"Did the entry seal weaken?"
"No."
"Did it attempt to reject her?"
"No."
"So it's still accepting her?"
"It appears so."
The queen rested her elbow on the desk and her cheek in her hand.
That was the irritating part.
If the cave hadn't rejected him, he wasn't dying.
If it hadn't expelled him, he hadn't finished.
If it was still shaking, something was happening inside.
Something irregular enough to affect the external structure.
But not definitive enough to open the way out.
"What are you doing in there, Matt?"
The vampire lowered her gaze.
"Your Majesty…"
The queen looked back at her.
"Yes?"
"The guards are uneasy."
"Guards usually are."
"They say they've never seen anything like this."
"Because they haven't."
The vampire tensed.
The queen smiled softly.
"That doesn't mean they should lose their composure."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
The queen stood.
The movement was slow.
Elegant.
But the pressure in the study changed.
The guards straightened their backs.
The kneeling vampire lowered her head even further.
The queen walked to the map hanging on the wall.
In one corner, marked in red ink, was the Forge Cave territory.
A small point.
Ancient.
Annoying.
"Matt chose the maximum difficulty."
The vampire didn't respond.
"A tantrum."
The queen smiled just barely.
"A very long tantrum."
Her gaze stayed fixed on the map.
At first it had seemed almost endearing.
Her rebellious daughter fleeing to the most dangerous place possible to get a new weapon just because Eleonora refused to obey him.
Impulsive.
Proud.
Desperate.
Very Matt.
But time had passed.
Too much.
"His powers are weakened from being separated from Iris."
The queen spoke as if reasoning aloud.
"That was to be expected."
The vampire stayed still.
"Not to this extent."
Her red eyes narrowed.
Separating him from Iris had been an annoying mistake.
An intelligent one, yes.
Very intelligent.
Matt had managed something he shouldn't have been capable of.
Breaking a royal blood bond.
Separating soul, memory, consciousness, and body without destroying everything in the process.
The queen still remembered the first time she discovered it.
She hadn't been angry immediately.
No.
First she had felt fascinated.
Then proud.
Then angry.
In that order.
But now her pride was starting to mix with something far less pleasant.
Embarrassment.
If Matt emerged having taken nearly as long as a minor noble, the other families would talk.
Not to her face.
Never to her face.
But they would talk.
The queen's created daughter.
The royal blood anomaly.
The supposedly troublesome heiress taking longer than acceptable to conquer a cave that royal blood was supposed to dominate.
The queen felt her smile grow thinner.
"She's tarnishing my legacy."
The kneeling vampire held her breath.
The queen paid her no attention.
"How far will she take this tantrum?"
No answer came.
She didn't need one.
Matt was perfectly capable.
Stubborn.
Resentful.
Clever in the worst possible ways.
If he had found some way to refuse to complete the trial just to inconvenience her, he would probably do it.
The problem was the tremors didn't fit that.
The cave didn't react to whims.
It didn't shudder over tantrums.
It didn't shake for two days because someone decided to rest too long.
The queen returned to the desk and picked up another report.
She didn't read it.
Just looked at the ink.
"How often are they shaking now?"
"It varies, Your Majesty."
"Varies how?"
"We're not certain."
The queen looked up.
The vampire swallowed.
"But it seems to react when internal energy concentrates."
"Mana concentration?"
"Yes."
"Blood?"
"Also."
The queen was quiet.
Then asked:
"Are there signs of an ego weapon awakening?"
"We can't confirm it from outside."
"But."
The vampire hesitated.
"There are… pulses."
The queen slowly set the report on the table.
"Pulses?"
"More than one."
Silence fell.
The queen looked at the vampire.
This time, her expression changed.
Barely.
But it changed.
"Repeat that."
The vampire lowered her head.
"The guards sensed distinct pulses in the barrier."
"Distinct?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"How many?"
"We're not certain."
The queen didn't speak.
The vampire continued, each word more careful than the last:
"One is stable. We believe it corresponds to the weapon she was already forming."
Probably a sword or whatever Matt had chosen.
The queen still didn't know whether to laugh or punish him for that choice.
"And the others?"
The vampire tensed.
"We don't know."
The queen looked at her.
The room grew colder.
"You don't know?"
The queen didn't believe that.
Not for a second.
'Matt. What are you doing?'
The queen walked slowly toward the window and pulled the red curtain back just slightly.
In the distance, beyond the castle's inner courtyards, the direction of the cave was visible.
Not directly.
But the dark sky above it was.
The mana there looked dense.
Heavy.
Restless.
The queen felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Worry, and a little curiosity.
That last part irritated her.
"Send more guards."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Not near the entrance."
The vampire looked up.
The queen continued:
"If the cave is reacting, I don't want idiots who can't properly watch the exit."
"Understood."
"I want secondary barriers around the perimeter."
"Yes."
"I want records of every tremor — duration, intensity, and each pulse detected."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And I want Selene there."
The vampire blinked.
"Selene?"
"Yes."
"As an observer?"
"As whatever is needed."
The vampire lowered her head.
"Understood."
The queen released the curtain and the fabric covered the window again.
"And bring Iris."
The vampire went still.
"Princess Iris?"
The queen smiled.
"Do you know another?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Then yes."
The vampire hesitated.
"Her Highness is training with Eleonora."
The queen's smile deepened slightly.
"I know."
Iris's training with Eleonora had been slow.
Irritating.
Full of complaints.
At first, nearly useless.
Eleonora rejected Iris.
Iris hated making effort. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
And both of them had a talent for making any simple exercise look like a diplomatic dispute.
But time affected Iris too.
Even laziness, under enough pressure, could turn into movement.
And if Matt remained inside the cave much longer…
Iris needed to be ready.
The queen returned to her chair.
"Interrupt their training."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I want her to see the cave."
The vampire didn't ask why.
That was wise of her.
The queen picked up her quill again.
But she didn't write.
She just held it between her fingers.
"Matt…"
Her voice was almost warm.
Almost.
"What kind of problem are you creating now?"
No answer came.
Only silence.
And very far away, so faint it barely made it through the castle's stone walls…
CRRRRRR!
The desk vibrated.
The ink in the inkwell formed small ripples.
The queen looked at the dark liquid.
The smile disappeared for an instant.
Just an instant.
Then it came back.
"Interesting."
