Chapter Seven: The Woman Who Wore Her Mother's Face
Aria couldn't breathe.
The woman in the doorway wore her mother's smile, her face, her voice — but something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Her eyes.
They weren't human.
They were mirrors.
Not silver like Kael's, not gold like Riven's. Just blank, endless mirrors — reflecting Aria's own stunned expression back at her.
"Your mother's dead," the woman said again, her tone too calm, too knowing. "But I wear her bones well, don't I?"
Kael was beside Aria in an instant, sword drawn. Riven pulled her back, subtly placing himself between her and the thing in the doorway.
Aria's voice trembled. "Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head. "Does it matter? I'm what you left behind when you chose your throne over your blood."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "It's a Shade."
Aria blinked. "A what?"
"A mimic demon," Riven muttered. "Drawn to powerful bloodlines. It doesn't just wear the skin of the dead — it feeds on their memories."
The Shade chuckled. "Not just their memories, my prince. Their regrets. Their grief. Their guilt."
It stepped inside without invitation.
Kael growled. "That was a mistake."
"Oh?" the Shade grinned wider. "You think I came to fight? No. I came to remind her what she is."
It turned to Aria.
"You buried your mother, didn't you? Or did you pretend she just vanished? Left you like everyone else? Do you remember the night she died?"
Aria's stomach turned.
"She died in a fire," she whispered. "The cabin—"
"—burned," the Shade finished. "But the fire wasn't an accident. It was a calling."
Kael lunged.
The Shade flicked a wrist, and Kael's body slammed into the wall, pinned by an unseen force.
Riven moved next — quick, silent — but the Shade raised a single finger. Riven froze midair, gasping as black smoke coiled around his throat.
"Enough," the Shade snapped. "Let the girl remember."
---
The world twisted.
Aria's vision blurred, and suddenly she was six years old again, standing in the cabin with her mother. The fireplace crackled. Rain poured outside.
Her mother knelt before her.
"Never forget," she whispered. "If anything happens to me… run. To the woods. Follow the silver trees."
A sound at the door.
Then flames.
Everywhere.
Screaming.
But not hers.
Her mother's.
And a figure in the fire.
Not a man. Not a wolf.
Something ancient, with eyes like stardust.
"Give her to us," the figure said.
Her mother screamed and threw herself into the flames.
The last thing Aria saw before blacking out was her mother's hand — clutching the silver pendant now buried deep in Aria's drawer upstairs.
---
She blinked, gasping.
The Shade grinned, delighted. "There it is. You remember."
Kael groaned, still pinned. Riven's face was turning pale from the smoke constricting his neck.
"Stop it!" Aria yelled. "Let them go!"
"Only if you tell me one thing," the Shade whispered, stepping closer. "Why did your mother burn herself alive?"
Aria's pulse thundered.
"To protect me," she said, voice tight.
The Shade leaned in. "No, darling. She burned herself to protect the world from you."
Then it laughed.
And in that laughter, Aria heard something else — voices. Screaming. Chanting. Howling.
The past.
The truth.
And then the mark on her wrist blazed again.
The Shade screamed as light burst from Aria's body.
Riven and Kael collapsed to the floor as the force holding them broke. The walls trembled. Windows shattered inward.
And the Shade…
…was gone.
Just ash.
Burnt into the wooden floor where her mother's face had once stood.
---
Silence fell.
Aria dropped to her knees, shaking.
Kael crawled to her side, pulling her into his arms.
"I told you she was stronger," he murmured, voice hoarse.
Riven leaned against the doorframe, coughing, eyes wide.
"That wasn't just a Shade," he said. "That was a Bound One."
Kael tensed. "Impossible."
"They were destroyed in the last war," Riven said. "Or so we thought."
Aria looked up. "What's a Bound One?"
Kael's voice was grim. "An ancient being. Half-magic, half-memory. Created to hold the essence of dead gods."
"They serve no one," Riven added. "They only seek power. And you — you're power incarnate."
Aria stood slowly.
Her mark still pulsed, but it didn't burn anymore. It shimmered like it was… humming.
Alive.
"I need answers," she said. "Not bits and pieces. Everything."
Kael looked at her. "There's only one person who can give you that."
"Who?" she asked.
"Your aunt."
Aria blinked. "She's gone. Disappeared."
"No," Kael said, stepping closer. "She didn't vanish. She was taken — by the Council."
"And if we find her," Riven added, "we find the truth."
Aria clenched her fists.
"Then we go tonight."
---
That evening, they prepared.
Kael retrieved weapons. Riven mapped the route to the Council's outpost hidden beyond the Silver Ridge. Aria sat by the fire, the pendant from her dream now in her hands — small, silver, shaped like a wolf howling at the moon.
She opened it.
Inside was a lock of silver hair — not her mother's.
Her own.
Tied with a red thread that shimmered faintly under the moonlight.
Kael watched her from across the room. "You okay?"
"No."
"Good," he said. "Fear means you're human."
She looked at him. "I'm not sure I am anymore."
Riven entered, throwing a black cloak across her shoulders.
"Then you're ready."
---
They left before moonrise.
Through the woods.
Past the lake.
Over the ridge where the trees turned silver and the stars seemed to whisper.
Ahead, the darkness grew deeper.
And in the far distance… a castle loomed.
Black stone.
No lights.
No guards.
Just shadows.
Waiting.