NOVEL NEXT Chapter 128: Locked
The iron door screeched shut behind him.
The echo lingered down the stone corridor like a scream with no throat. Chains bit into his wrists, heavy links that dragged at his shoulders and bruised bone. Aiden stumbled once on the uneven floor before the guards shoved him forward into the cell.
The door slammed again, bolts sliding into place with a cruel finality.
And then silence.
Only the drip of water from somewhere unseen. The stink of damp straw, mold, and old piss clung to the air like a second skin.
Aiden leaned back against the wall, sliding down until the weight of chains forced him to sit. His armor was cracked and bent, the once-proud steel now a ruin—just like his body beneath it. Blood crusted on his collar, ribs screaming each time he dared to breathe deep.
But his lips curved.
A slow, dangerous smile unfurled like fire across cold iron.
He lifted his eyes toward the memory of the Earl's smug face.
You, he thought. You'll do. You'll take the blame for every rotting thing in the leonidus fife. Every lie, every chain, every drop of corruption that stinks in these walls—I'll hang it all on you. And then I'll burn it down.
The smile broke into a whisper of laughter. Soft. Dangerous. The kind of laugh that promised blood. The guards shifted uneasily outside, muttering, as though they felt the wrongness of it ripple through the air.
.
.
Above, at the garrison gates, Arina stood with fists clenched white. She could still see it—Aiden's face as he told her to calm down. His eyes, sharp even when chains closed around his wrists. That whisper: Take care of the elves. Trust me.
Trust. Damn him.
Her gaze flicked to Ilyana and her daughter, who clung to her gown with wide, frightened eyes. The elf woman kept her chin high, but the tremor in her hands betrayed her fear.
Arina's chest ached with a strange conflict—rage at Aiden's imprisonment, guilt for obeying him, and something she dared not name that curled warm and sharp beneath her ribs whenever she remembered his lips pressing against hers in the dungeon.
"#$#Mother,#@@" the little girl whispered, voice fragile. " #@#they ..hurt him?###"
Ilyana's throat worked. "#@##Humans hurt all they fear##@#"
Arina turned sharply away, jaw tight. She wanted to march into the Earl's hall and cut him down where he stood. But she was a knight bound by law, and Aiden's order still burned in her ears. Trust me.
The hall of the Earl of Wessex was ablaze with torches, smoke curling toward the rafters. Nobles feasted while Aiden rotted below. The Earl raised his cup as though celebrating some grand victory.
"My son speaks of loyalty," the Earl said, his voice booming as he dismissed Aethal's protests. "But loyalty without discipline is rebellion. That knight of yours entered a dungeon without writ, without sanction. He is not a nobleman. He is not sanctioned as an adventurer. He is nothing but a reckless boy."
Baron Melodious leaned forward, voice smooth but edged with steel. "And yet he returned alive. With everyone. The nun is safe, the slayer gone—"
"Silence." The Earl's gaze cut like a blade. "Do not mistake mercy for tolerance, Baron. My judgment is final."
From the shadows near the dais, the Blood Commander smiled. His eyes lingered on Aethal's clenched fists, then drifted out—toward Arina at the back of the gate.
Jealousy, envy, hunger—all writ plain on his face.
The Earl of Wessex stood at the high-arched window, fingers laced behind his back, his posture carved from pride and iron. Below, torchlight danced over the courtyard, flickering like restless fireflies across steel helms and spears. The murmurs of soldiers carried upward, an undercurrent of unease at the boy knight's chains.
Behind him, the Blood Commander lounged against a heavy oak table, his smirk never fading. The man's armor gleamed dully in the firelight, still flecked with stains that might never wash clean. He looked comfortable here, in the shadows of power.
"Your son's friend is a danger," the Commander said, voice low but sharp as a drawn blade. "Better to break him now. Let the men see that disobedience earns only chains."
The Earl's lips thinned, eyes narrowing against the courtyard flames. "You might already know…" His voice was deliberate, testing. "…but he proclaims that the Leonidus and Merlin families have his back."
The Commander gave a slow chuckle, crossing his arms. "I know. I've heard his claims. But what if… it's false? What if those banners he carries—their sigils stitched in gold—are nothing but decoration?"
The Earl finally turned from the window, the torchlight carving his gaunt features into something harsher than stone. "Indeed," he said, almost spitting the word. "He's just a knight. A commoner knight at that. A boy who thinks himself touched by destiny."
The Commander leaned forward, eyes glinting like a predator's. "Then we strip him. We grind him down until even his supposed patrons will not recognize him. If he lies, his head will decorate your walls. If he speaks truth—then his disgrace will tarnish the families he invokes."
A pause stretched between them, heavy as a drawn bowstring.
And then—both men laughed.
Low, cruel, mirthless laughter that spilled into the chamber like poison, echoing off stone walls as the night deepened around them.
.
.
The Cell
Hours bled away in darkness.
Aiden sat cross-legged now, back against the cold wall, his breathing slow. He could hear the guards outside the bars—their whispers, the shuffle of boots, the faint hitch of breath whenever his smile returned.
And beneath it all, he smelled them.
Aiden's head tilted back against the wall. His smile lingered, but exhaustion pulled at the edges.
The torches outside the bars flickered once, then dimmed. Footsteps, soft as breath, approached down the corridor. Not armored boots—slippers, light, barely a whisper.
A shadow resolved into a figure: slim, cloaked, carrying a faint scent of lavender beneath the stink of the dungeon.
Akidna.
Her eyes darted to the guards at the far end of the hall. Then, with hands that trembled only slightly, she knelt by the bars.
Metal glinted. A small iron key slid between her fingers, lowered to the stone beside him.
"Quiet," she whispered, voice tight. "This is all I can risk. Take it, before anyone sees."
The key clinked softly against the stone.
Aiden's eyes opened fully. The dangerous smile returned.
The game had just changed.