The doors of Frostspire Fortress groaned shut behind Isabella, sealing her in. The outside world—the wind, the cold, the threat of war—vanished as darkness swallowed her whole.
Torches ignited one by one along the ancient walls, casting ghostly blue light across the corridor. The air smelled of old stone, metal, and something else—something sharper. Like burned electricity and forgotten magic.
Shade walked ahead of her, her black cloak flowing like liquid night, silent as a shadow.
"Frostspire was Voss's last laboratory," Shade said softly, her voice echoing off the walls. "Before he died, this is where he made me. Remade me. Broke me until I forgot who I was."
Her fingers brushed the cold stone as she passed. "I was not born a queen. I was built to be one."
Isabella swallowed, her heart twisting.
"Then why are you showing me this? Why let me come here at all?"
Shade stopped before a set of iron doors. "Because you need to understand what you're fighting for. What you want to save."
With a flick of her wrist, the doors creaked open.
Inside was a vast chamber—a laboratory of horrors. Stasis pods lined the walls, filled with flickering shadows and twisted, incomplete forms. Machines buzzed quietly, feeding data into dark consoles. Strange symbols glowed faintly on the floor—sigils of control, of old, forbidden science.
Isabella's breath caught in her throat.
"These were Voss's failed daughters," Shade murmured. "Experiments he discarded when they weren't perfect. I was the first to survive. The only one to escape destruction."
She turned, her gaze sharp. "Do you see, sister? There is no redemption for me. No freedom. I was made to rule or die. There is no third path."
Isabella stepped closer, reaching out to touch the stasis glass. A faint figure floated inside—thin, broken, asleep forever.
"You survived," Isabella said gently. "And that means you can choose. You're not his weapon anymore. You're more than what he made."
Shade laughed bitterly. "You don't understand, Isabella. I am what he made. The strength, the command, the ruthlessness—it's in my blood, carved into my bones. If I let go of that… what would be left of me?"
"Someone who could be free," Isabella whispered. "Someone who could choose to be more than a monster in the dark."
For a long moment, Shade said nothing. Her face—so alike Isabella's—flickered with uncertainty.
Then the alarms shattered the silence.
Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.
"Southern strike force approaching!" a cold voice blared through the speakers. "Unidentified ships breaching northern airspace!"
Shade's eyes hardened into steel again. "It seems your friends have come to save you, sister. Or start a war."
Isabella's heart sank. "Alexander… no."
Shade smirked, but her voice was unreadable.
"Looks like you'll get to see what kind of queen I truly am."
She turned sharply toward the command chamber.
"Come, Isabella. Watch how the North answers betrayal."
And Isabella followed—knowing the fragile moment of trust between them was slipping away fast.
---
To be continued .