Honor and Glory | ATEEZ

047

"What the hell?" I hissed, backing away from the gate.

My heart was hammering as I whipped around and ran toward the other end of the hallway, coming to an abrupt halt as the door on that side of the room also slammed hot.

I couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped my lips as I realized what was happening, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

Daios really had me trapped.

I kept moving through the empty palace, now completely unfazed by the doors closing every time I passed by one.

I had tried to open some of them without luck, simply trudging on as I tried to come up with some sort of plan as to what I was going to do next.

This was hopeless, I thought.

Even when I wanted to be alone, I couldn't.

It felt like Daios was somehow watching my every move, wanting to make sure that I suffered as much as possible.

I hadn't gotten the chance to be alone much in the last couple of weeks thanks to the others, but that had been completely different.

I had needed them, wanted them, and treasured them.

Daios was everywhere.

And I didn't want him to be.

He wanted to own me, and at that moment, it seemed like he had succeeded in achieving just that.

My heart sank even lower when I finally came to a halt in front of a familiar door.

The solid oak triggered a wave of memories that I had tried my best to repress.

My coronation, the dress that I had been nervously fiddling with as I waited outside this very door, the guards and servants that had been smiling encouragingly at me.

The door opened by itself, slowly revealing the throne room on the other side.

I took a step forward, feeling tears spring to my eyes as I was overcome with images of that dreadful day weeks before.

I remembered the music from the royal musicians, raising their instruments toward the sky, and the hush that had rolled over the crowd inside as wonderful melodies followed my path toward my father and mother.

This time, there was no music as I made my way to the center of the room.

Everything was quiet.

There was no one here. No one except Daios.

The throne room had been cleaned up and restored as well, I realized, carefully glancing in both directions as I tried to find any sign of the fight that had interrupted my coronation.

But once again, I came up empty-handed.

Not as much as a single memory or sign of life had been left here.

It made me sick.

Daios was standing on top of the podium at the front of the room, illuminated by the flickering flames from the thousands of candles in the chandeliers and torches on the wall.

Behind him, a beautiful mosaic loomed from the floor all the way to the ceiling, replacing the previous image of the royal phoenix and flames with a horrible thunderstorm.

It was no longer broken and no longer golden, glinting darkly in the lights from the lightning strikes outside instead.

But that wasn't the reason why this whole situation had felt so wrong, I realized, suddenly feeling overwhelmed as I finally looked at him, finally saw him.