Chapter 121: Victoria and Selith

At the same time, somewhere in the West...

The air beneath the house was thick with incense and the metallic tang of something older...older than the stones that held the chamber together, older than the very language the runes along the walls were carved in. The torches flickered as if bowing to the arrival of the woman in black and gold. Her bare feet pressed against the cold earth, yet she walked with the grace of a queen.

The hunched woman by the altar table turned at the soft jingle of gold bangles. Her cracked lips parted into a crooked smile, blackened teeth glinting faintly in the low light. She bent low, her voice rasping through the chamber like a serpent’s hiss.

"Welcome, Luna."

The word Luna rolled off her tongue as if it were both praise and mockery.

Victoria’s pale blue eyes swept across the cave with languid disdain. "Enough of that," she said, her tone sharp and silken. "How goes the process, Selith?"

Selith straightened slowly, the dozens of earrings on her withered ears jingling faintly. Her hands, long and stained with dark residue, hovered over the table filled with ritual tools: bowls carved from bone, shards of crystal, roots twisted around tiny animal skulls. A cauldron in the corner simmered faintly, its contents pulsing red like a heartbeat.

"The process," Selith began, her tongue tasting every syllable, "is close. Once we acquire the Skylur, we will get what we want."

Victoria tilted her head, strands of black hair sliding down her shoulder. "Then why do you sound hesitant?"

Selith hesitated then smiled, her gums dark and glistening. "Because, my Luna, there is one more thing."

Victoria’s eyes narrowed, the faintest hint of irritation breaking through her composed mask. "Speak."

Selith turned slightly, dragging a long nail through the dust on the table, tracing a sigil that glowed faintly before fading again. "For the transference to succeed...for you to carry the power without being consumed by it...you will need a higher conduit. A power beyond mortal vessels."

Victoria’s expression froze. "What kind of power?"

Selith’s smile deepened, every wrinkle on her face bending into shadow. "A higher power. One that no living priestess dares summon."

"Stop speaking in riddles," Victoria snapped. "Say what you mean." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Selith lifted her eyes, and the firelight caught the milky gray of her pupils. "You will need him."

Victoria frowned. "Who?"

"The first priest to ever practice the forbidden arts," Selith said softly. "The one who taught our ancestors how to twist divine light into shadow. The one who defied the Moon Goddess herself."

For a moment, silence hung between them. Even the torches seemed to flicker slower, as if the air had thickened around his name.

Victoria sat upright, every trace of languid elegance gone. "You speak of myths," she said coldly. "The first priest? The one who practiced black magic? He was a story meant to scare apprentices from crossing into forbidden magic. He doesn’t exist."

Selith chuckled, the sound low and broken. "Myths," she repeated, shaking her head. "My dear Luna, most things about our world began as myths. For every lie told to protect the faithful, there is always a buried truth."

Victoria’s frown deepened. "And what truth do you speak of now?"

Selith leaned forward, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. "The truth that he never died. When the Moon Goddess cursed him, she did not destroy him, she denied him death. He still walks the earth, hidden in the shadows of the forest. His body is more beast than man now, but his essence, his knowledge... remain."

A strange chill crept through the air. The flames bowed, shrinking low as if the darkness itself leaned closer to listen.

Victoria’s voice was barely a whisper. "If what you’re saying is true... where is he?"

"In Nirvana," Selith replied simply.

Victoria’s eyes sharpened. "Nirvana?"

"Yes," Selith said, turning back to the tools on her table. She dipped a bony finger into the red liquid and traced another rune into the air. It shimmered briefly before dissolving. "Deep within the forests. But where exactly, I do not know. He remains, waiting and perhaps watching."

Victoria’s hands tightened around the edge of the couch, her gold rings glinting. "You don’t know where and yet you tell me he exists?"

Selith’s grin widened. "Because I trust the words of my apprentice. Morwen met him once before she died."

At the mention of that name, Victoria’s gaze hardened. The torchlight carved cruel shadows along her cheekbones. "Morwen is dead."

"I know," Selith rasped, almost with amusement. "But before she died, she spoke of him. She met him when she was little and he narked her. If you check her shoulder you will see a mark there...his mark."

Victoria rose slowly, her gown whispering across the dirt floor. She stood over Selith now, casting her shadow across the woman’s tools. "If Morwen were alive, perhaps she could tell us the exact place. But she’s not. And you’re telling me to chase myths in the woods of Nirvana."

Selith met her gaze evenly, her crooked smile never faltering. "You were going to send men there anyway. It costs you nothing to let them look. And if I am right..." she gestured toward the cauldron, "...then what you desire will finally be within reach."

Victoria was silent for a long while. The flames fluttered, casting gold and crimson hues against her face. Finally, she stepped closer, so close that Selith could feel the faint heat of her breath.

"And if you’re wrong," Victoria said softly, "I will make sure your tongue is the first thing I cut from your body."

Selith laughed a dry, rasping laugh that echoed strangely in the chamber. "You threaten easily, Luna. But be careful with words. They have power here."

Victoria’s lips curled in disdain. She leaned closer, voice dropping into a hiss. "If you betray me, Selith...if I so much as suspect treachery...I will tell the world who you truly are. That the great Selith of the Duskveil Pack, the so-called Priestess of Balance, is nothing more than a high elder of the Black Circle, Morwen’s own teacher."

The threat hung in the air, venomous and sharp.

For a heartbeat, Selith said nothing. Then she began to laugh, quietly at first, then louder, the sound bouncing off the stone walls. When she finally spoke, her tone was almost sweet.

"And if you betray me, my precious Luna," she whispered, "then I will tell the world your truth that you are no true Luna at all. That your title was bought with lies and rituals soaked in blood. That the plague going around is your fault and your doing."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Victoria smiled then, but it was not the smile of a woman, it was the smile of something poisonous wearing human skin. Her eyes glimmered with cruel amusement as she straightened, brushing invisible dust from her gown.

"Careful, Selith," she murmured, her tone smooth as silk. "You forget who feeds you. Who keeps your little secrets buried under gold and silence."

"And you," Selith said softly, "forget who taught your mother how to bind her first charm. We are both bound by secrets, Victoria. The difference is that I am not afraid of mine."