Chapter 143: _Like A God Seeking Truth Lucian’s POV
His desire for distance from everything and everyone led him to somewhere he hadn’t visited in years. The royal dungeons. It was underneath the palace, down a flight of steps twisting through a stereotypical dark tunnel. The tunnel was filled with stale air, heavy in the lungs. When Lucian got to the end of the stairs, his eyes met a large corridor filled with primitive looking silver barred prison cells to his left and right. Guards stood watch at each cell, the corridor lit up by dull white crystals embedded on the walls. The guards turned their heads to him and immediately straightened their postures, bowing before him. "Good day, Alpha Prince." But he ignored that, merely waving once before clearing his throat. "There was a new prisoner brought in here earlier today. Where’s her cell?" He queried, squinting. Prisoners began howling just then, making provocative noises and stretching their necks and hands through the metal bars.
His desire for distance from everything and everyone led him to somewhere he hadn’t visited in years. The royal dungeons. It was underneath the palace, down a flight of steps twisting through a stereotypical dark tunnel. The tunnel was filled with stale air, heavy in the lungs. When Lucian got to the end of the stairs, his eyes met a large corridor filled with primitive looking silver barred prison cells to his left and right. Guards stood watch at each cell, the corridor lit up by dull white crystals embedded on the walls. The guards turned their heads to him and immediately straightened their postures, bowing before him. "Good day, Alpha Prince." But he ignored that, merely waving once before clearing his throat. "There was a new prisoner brought in here earlier today. Where’s her cell?" He queried, squinting. Prisoners began howling just then, making provocative noises and stretching their necks and hands through the metal bars.
"The Alpha Prince?" One asked with a sharp snarl. "Where? Where is he?"
"Have mercy on me, Alpha Prince! Please!"
"I’ll confess to anything you want. I promise I’ll never dream of treason again." A female voice chimed.
So many voices. So many crimes or sins, depending on how you looked at it.
Yet it was only one he was here for.
"Well, well, well." A silvery voice managed to break through the voices of everyone else, causing Lucian’s jaw to tighten.
The guards glanced at each other, as if telling each other how much of a threat the owner of that voice was.
But Lucian knew better.
"Lulu, my darling. It didn’t even take you a day to come crawling back to find me." The voice continued much to Lucian’s annoyance.
He ignored the stares of the guards and moved forward, his fists clenching beside him.
His footsteps were unhurried despite the tension in the corridor, the clamouring from the prisoners in their respective cells increasing rapidly.
Lucian even saw a few frying their hands in an attempt to grab and pull off the silver bars of their cells, their pained howls drowning him in a cacophony.
"Estella." Lucian let out with a breath, squinting even though he hadn’t gotten to her cell yet. "I see you’re as delusional as ever. Except now your delusions might potentially lead to pure insanity if left unattended."
A sly chuckle echoed through the corridor, but Lucian felt it:
A crack in her voice that showed the pain. The exhaustion. The despair.
All of them twisting like a knife in that one voice.
"Did you come here to insult me, Lucian?" Estella’s voice lost its previous slyness, dripping with venom. "What do you want? I’m serving my time already... Talking to you might be too much torture."
Lucian paused just then, turning his head to the left.
And there she was.
Estella Thorne.
The inside of her cell was dark with only a single bed resting on a wall at the end.
She was dressed in a silver colored full-body material that seemed to be made with satin, her blonde hair tied up into a bun.
But her hazel eyes were as sharp as ever... Not at all the delirious image Kyren had tried painting her with earlier today.
"Trust me, talking to you isn’t much of a field day for me either." Lucian scoffed, folding his arms in front of his chest as she slowly rose from the bed.
She walked toward the silver bars, scanning her gaze around the cell room as if this was her first time.
But when her eyes landed on Lucian again... She smirked.
"Oh, Lucy darling." She giggled, shaking her head. "Oh, right. You never liked that nickname. Anyway, I know you way too well. You aren’t here for a welfare visit or to gloat."
She paused her footsteps when she finally got in front of the silver bars. Her eyes trailed the bars before she stretched her right hand forward, hovering just a few inches away from the shiny metallic surface.
Lucian’s brows furrowed when he felt a sudden electrical current surging through the silver bars, charged and ready.
The silver bars were electrically charged, waiting for Estella to lay a finger on them.
Lucian already visualised the outcome of that.
"Well, Estella, you’re right." Lucian began, his expression stoic. "I do want something from you. Information, actually. On—"
"Save it for the birds on migration, Lucian." Estella sneered, eyeing him with contempt. "I’m done serving you. I’m done trying to grovel at your feet for only a spec of your attention."
Lucian arched an eyebrow, not moved by the slightest.
"I never asked you to grovel, Estella," Lucian said, his voice colder than ice. "We had a fling a few times and that was it. You’re the one who placed importance on what was supposed to be simple."
Her eyes twitched but Lucian never intended to have this conversation or to linger long here.
"What I want might help vindicate you..." Lucian raised his chin, looking down on her. "I want to know if what you were saying out there before you were arrested was true. Did Kyren Nochthane kidnap you and Magnus from Lunarian soil?"
Silence.
Estella’s lips parted, a flicker of hesitation flashing past her eyes. But then she looked away, shaking her head.
"Does it even matter?" She muttered, her voice so low that Lucian could barely hear it through the persistent clamouring from the prisoners. "My plan went to shit. It was a perfect plan too. I—"
"I don’t care about your plan, Estella." Lucian drawled, tilting his head as he stepped closer until he was only a few inches away from the silver bars.
They could electrocute him as much as they could Estella, but right now, he didn’t care.
"Just tell me. Did you sneak into the Dark Lands or were you taken there?" His alpha aura began leaking out just then, increasing the pressure in the air.
Estella shook with fear, taking a step back even though she was a low Alpha.
The prisoners in their cells became dead silent almost instantly, many of them succumbing to his aura. A few fainted while most shivered with dread.
Lucian stood in the middle of it all like a god here to seek truth.
And he would... One way or the other.
"A–Alright!" Estella couldn’t take it anymore and yelled out, her voice shaky as she slowly raised her hands. Then her voice lowered. "I’ll... I’ll talk."
Lucian nodded once, withdrawing his Alpha aura. "Go on."
Estella lowered her head, her eyes scanning right outside the prison cell. She stared at Lucian for a moment before clearing her throat.
"Magnus and I were on the run after you rescued Elian. We got to Caelreach city, blending in and walking into one of the temples like worshippers."
Caelreach city... That was a large city at the far north of the empire. Snowy mountains, ancient temples dedicated to the moon goddess.
Lucian had visited a few times.
But there was also one more thing to note... It was in the far north. Literally at the other side of the continent, close to the oceans.
Meaning Estella and Magnus couldn’t have gone to the Dark Lands at that time.
"It was in that city that we realised we were being tailed. We thought it was you and my brother catching up to us." She swallowed hard, her chest heaving heavily. "Until we got kidnapped. It happened so fast. There was a flash of red light and then poof. We found ourselves in the red sand of the Dark Lands."
Lucian’s eyes lit up.
Red light.
That was the signature energy colour of a certain rogue king’s magic.
"I know you probably don’t believe me after everything." Estella’s tone became desperate, pleading as she locked eyes with Lucian. "But you have to believe me on this. Sneaking into the Dark Lands was never the plan. You know me. Does the Dark Lands fit my aesthetic at all?"
Lucian eyed her with contempt but she had a point.
The Estella he knew would rather die than live in an arid desert region like the Dark Lands. She’d be too worried about the heat ruining her makeup.
He low-key wanted her to be lying—because if she wasn’t, it meant Kyren had been two steps ahead of them all along. But alas...
"As much as I loathe admitting this..." Lucian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I believe you. But this means one thing..."
He paused just then when a guard suddenly shouted from the entrance of the dungeon he’d walked in from.
"My Prince! Breaking news just got in. Arcadia launched its first attack on the Dark Lands."
Lucian’s heart skipped a beat as he swerved his head toward the guards, watching as they hurdled together to watch a holographic screen.
"Lord Kyren infiltrated Lunarian soil, whether directly or not." Lucian blurted as his chest tightened with resolve, ignoring Estella’s gaze which still lingered on him. "Which means he broke border laws. Something I can use against him."
A devious smirk curled up his lips as he stretched out his arm. A holographic tablet appeared on his palm, showing the news highlights of the attack from Arcadia.
A war was brewing... But he wouldn’t lag behind on it.
"I’m coming for you Elian." Lucian stepped away from Estella’s cell, not even sparing her a glance before walking away.
"Lucian? Lucian, what about my freedom?!" Estella screeched just then but he ignored her. "You’ll regret this, Alpha Prince! The truth will rot with me!"
Right... good luck to her.
His mind was already reeling through his next move.