Princess Of The Skulls - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

The ancient skull chamber lay deep beneath the castle, accessible only through passages known to the royal bloodline. I descended the worn stone steps with a crown of silver circlets in my hair—the traditional bridal ornament that would mark me as a willing sacrifice to anyone who understood the old symbols.
The skull relics waited in their alcoves, seventeen ancient heads of my predecessors, their empty sockets seeming to track my movement through the chamber. But it was the eighteenth alcove that drew me forward, the one that had stood empty for twenty years.
"Grandfather," I whispered, approaching the pedestal where the Skull King's remains should have rested.
"I know you can hear me, even without your bones present."
The air in the chamber grew cold, and shadows began to move independently of their sources. When the voice came, it seemed to emanate from all the skulls at once, a chorus of whispers that made my teeth ache.
Child of my blood, why do you seek the dead on your wedding day?
"Because the living have nothing but lies to offer me." I knelt before the empty alcove, my silk wedding dress pooling around me like spilled blood. "They plan to use your power to bind demons, using my death as the key."
The binding ritual is older than their understanding. They know not what forces they seek to chain. The voice grew stronger, more focused. Tell me, granddaughter—do you know what the skull relics truly contain?
"Demons, according to my father. Ancient evils that must be kept imprisoned."
Laughter echoed through the chamber, cold and bitter. Not imprisoned, child. Enslaved. The skulls do not contain demons—they contain the souls of kings who bargained with darkness and lost. We are the demons now, bound to serve whoever commands our relics.
The revelation staggered me. The ancestors I'd communed with my entire life, the source of my necromantic power—they weren't guiding spirits but enslaved souls, forced to obey whoever possessed their remains.
Your father seeks to add your skull to our collection, to bind your power to his will for eternity. But there is another way. The temperature dropped further, and frost began forming on the stone walls. You could take your rightful place as the Skull Queen, command us through will rather than bondage. But the price.
"What price?"
To free us, you must first become one of us. Death, child. True death, followed by resurrection through blood and shadow. Your mortal form would be forever changed, your humanity sacrificed for power absolute.
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of destiny settling on my shoulders like a funeral shroud. "And if I refuse? If I try to run?"
Then you die meaninglessly, your soul joining ours in eternal servitude. At least as the Skull Queen, your torment would have purpose.
"How long do I have to decide?"
The ritual begins at sunset. Choose quickly, granddaughter. Your enemies move even now to ensure your cooperation.
As if summoned by his words, footsteps echoed in the passage above. I rose quickly, smoothing my dress and arranging my expression into something resembling bridal composure. When the guards appeared at the chamber entrance, I was the picture of a dutiful princess preparing for her wedding day.
"Your Highness," the captain said with a bow. "Your father requests your presence in the throne room.
There are complications with the ceremony preparations."
Complications. No doubt Aldric and Kael's alliance had been discovered, or perhaps another player had entered the game. I followed the guards upward, leaving the skulls to their eternal whispers, my grandfather's offer burning in my mind like poison.
By the time I reached the throne room, I'd made my decision.