Chapter 138: You Shouldn't Have Heard That
“Mother,” Nina called out.
The stone steps of the porch scraped under her boots as she stepped into the open air of the courtyard. Lady Freya walked a pace behind her left shoulder, and behind them came the low, rhythmic shuffle of the elders’ long robes over the cobblestones.
Isabelle, who was standing by a small bed of flowers, turned at the sound of her voice.
Nina slowed her pace, coming to a halt about ten feet away. The night had darkened completely now, but she could see her mother’s wide blue eyes clearly in the courtyard light. Something in them made Nina hesitate. Isabelle was smiling, but it was small. Rigorous. The skin around her eyes remained completely smooth, unmoving.
After a long moment, Nina crossed the stone to where she stood.
“You… you are returning?” Isabelle asked, her hands folded neatly in front of her dress.
“Yes,” Nina said, forcing a smile to her lips. She reached out shakily and took her mother’s hands, wrapping her fingers around them. Isabelle’s skin felt remarkably cold, like she’d been standing in the wind for hours. Nina gave a firm, reassuring squeeze. “I’ll come back soon. I’ll bring the Vothraki, and after we put an end to the curse, you can return to Vermont Pack with me, if you want.”
Isabelle’s hand twitched inside Nina’s grip.
Her smile faded instantly. Her chin lifted slightly as her gaze shifted, slipping right past Nina’s face to stare at the elders standing in line behind her.
Nina frowned, her thumb still resting on her mother’s knuckles. “Mother?”
Isabelle’s eyes snapped back to hers. The skin around her jaw tightened, and before Nina could ask another question, Isabelle closed the gap between them, throwing her arms over Nina’s shoulders and dragging her in.
The collision knocked the breath from Nina’s lungs. Her mother’s fingers dug painfully into the back of her dress, pulling her close until Isabelle’s cheek was pressed against her temple.
“Everything is a lie,” Isabelle whispered. The words came out fast, jagged, hot against Nina’s skin. “Don’t believe them!”
Nina’s hands hovered in the air. “Mother—”
A heavy hand clamped onto Isabelle’s upper arm. With a single, rough tug, Isabelle was torn out of Nina’s grip. Nina’s hands snapped shut on empty air.
Lady Freya smoothly stepped in between them, pulling Isabelle behind her back.
“The stupid woman slipped,” Freya said, her face dropping all pretense as her eyes hardened into cold steel.
Nina’s eyes widened in dread. “What did you say…”
Her voice shook as Freya signaled to the guards. They stepped forward, hauling Isabelle backward toward the heavy timber doors of the main house. Isabelle didn’t scream. She didn’t thrash against their grip. She just kept her eyes locked on Nina, tears streaming down her pale face, her mouth opening and closing as if trying to speak through a thick glass wall.
“Where are you taking her? What is going on?” Nina demanded, staring at Freya and the elders, but no one said a word.
Nina tried to push past Freya, but a second figure shifted into her peripheral vision.
Cersei.
Her face was expressionless, her eyes completely cold now.
Nina stopped in her tracks.
“They just… they just took her away. What happened?”
The courtyard went deathly quiet. The only sound left was the scuff of leather boots as the guards backed Isabelle through the doorway. The heavy wooden door swung shut, and a sharp, metallic click echoed across the stone as the iron bolt slid into place.
Silence settled over the courtyard again.
“Isabelle is not feeling too well. She has been taken in to be checked,” Cersei said smoothly.
Nina shook her head. “I saw her just now. She was completely fine. The guards just hauled—”
Nina stopped speaking.
No.
There was no way…
She swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry as ash as realization dawned on her. Her eyes moved through the faces in front of her, her lips moving again, but no sound came out.
Slowly, she drew a breath, hiding her shaking hands behind her skirt.
Breathe now.
Everything is a lie.
Her eyes watered. They were never going to stop the curse.
Nina bit her lower lip, forcing herself to remain calm. Whatever was happening, she needed to leave first in order to devise a plan.
“The night is far spent,” Nina said, her voice thin, pitching a little too high in the quiet air. “I would like to return to the pack house now.”
Cersei stood near the foot of the steps, her head tilted slightly to one side. She didn’t say a word. She just watched Nina, her gaze slowly tracking down to Nina’s trembling hands before rising back to her eyes.
Nina took a small, careful step backward, her boot heel clicking against the cobblestone.
“Can you take me back now?” Nina asked. “Please?”
A tiny, patient smile curled the corner of Cersei’s mouth.
“You shouldn’t have heard that.”
The air felt like it left the courtyard all at once. Nina’s breath caught in her throat.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Nina said quickly, taking another step back, her heel catching slightly on the edge of a paving stone. “I didn’t hear anything! I don’t know what she was talking about!”
Cersei didn’t say a word. Her lips remained stretched into that faint smile as she took one smooth, deliberate step forward, closing the distance Nina had just tried to create.
“We really tried to do it the right way,” Cersei said quietly.
“I won’t do anything.” Tears finally broke past Nina’s lower lashes, running hot down her cold skin. She shook her head back and forth, her voice cracking down the middle. “Please. Just let me go. I swear I will bring the Vothraki to you. I will do whatever you—”
Cersei gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod over Nina’s shoulder.
Nina caught the movement. Her head snapped toward the gates—the wide, open space thirty feet away—and she bolted.
She drove her boots into the stone, throwing her entire body weight forward. One stride. Two strides.
Before her foot could land a third time, a dark shadow crossed over her. A thick arm locked like an iron bar across her chest, yanking her off her feet.
“Please! Somebody help!” Nina screamed, thrashing wildly as the guard hauled her backward toward the steps.
He didn’t stop moving until he threw her down onto the cobblestones at Cersei’s feet.
Nina scrambled to her elbows, gasping for breath, but two elders immediately stepped forward and pinned her wrists to the stone.
“Lilith,” Cersei called softly.
Another elder stepped out of the shadows, holding a small, dark wooden box in her hands. Nina’s eyes widened in horror as Lilith unclasped the latch.
“No, please!” Nina thrashed against the hands holding her down, cold terror flooding her veins. “What are you doing? Somebody help me!”
“No, please!” Nina thrashed against the hands holding her down, cold terror flooding her veins. “What are you doing? Somebody help me!”
Cersei reached into the box, her fingers sliding over a small, dark pill.
“Hold her,” Cersei commanded smoothly.
The guard pinned Nina’s head back against the stone, his fingers digging unmercifully into her jaw until her mouth was forced open. Nina tried to choke, trying frantically to clamp her teeth shut, but the hold was absolute.
“Please, no! No!”
Before she could fight, Cersei pressed the pill past her tongue, forcing her jaw shut and clamping her airway until Nina was forced to swallow.
The moment it went down her throat, a sharp, searing pain shot straight through Nina’s bloodstream. It burned hot and fast behind her ears, drowning out the world in a blinding, agonizing flash. A loud shriek tore from her lips—and then, suddenly, everything went blank.
The noise vanished. Her mind flattened out like still, lifeless water.
Cersei stared down at her for a long moment before taking a single step forward.
“Nina?” she called softly.
Nina’s eyes lifted bleakly, staring past Cersei’s face with hollow, unblinking focus.
“Yes,” she replied, her voice entirely flat.
Cersei smiled, her expression warm, almost maternal. “You came to the three realms. You met your mother. I told you we are going to end the curse, and you promised to bring the Vothraki.” She paused for a moment, tilting her head. “Now, what happened?”
Nina breathed, her chest rising in a slow, perfectly steady rhythm. “I came to the three realms. I met my mother. Cersei promised to end the curse, and I promised to bring the Vothraki.”
A slow, satisfied smile stretched across Cersei’s lips as she straightened up.
“Good.”