Chapter 5 The Sanctuary Prison

ARIA'S POV

"My mother was here?" I jerked against the guards holding me. "What do you mean she was here twenty-five years ago?"

Morgana's laugh echoed down the corridor. "All in good time, little bride. First, let's see if you inherited her strength—or just her foolishness."

They dragged me down a spiral staircase that seemed to go on forever. Down and down into the cold darkness beneath the palace. My mark burned hotter with each step, like it knew danger was coming.

Finally, we stopped in front of a massive iron door covered in strange symbols that glowed red. Morgana pressed her hand against it, and the door groaned open, revealing complete darkness beyond.

"The Blood Maze," Morgana announced. "Your mother made it through in four hours. Can you beat her time?" She leaned close. "Or will you die screaming like most of the others?"

Before I could answer, the guards shoved me through the doorway.

I stumbled forward into darkness. Behind me, the iron door slammed shut with a sound like a death sentence. The lock clicked. Then silence.

Complete, suffocating silence.

I pressed my hands against the door, feeling for a handle, a crack, anything. Solid iron. No way out except forward.

"Okay," I whispered to myself. "Think. You've survived Celeste's cruelty. You've survived losing everything. You can survive a maze."

As if responding to my voice, torches along the walls flickered to life. Red flames that gave off no heat. They revealed a stone corridor stretching ahead, with multiple passages branching off in different directions.

I took a deep breath and started walking.

The maze was wrong. That was the only way to describe it. The walls seemed to breathe. Shadows moved without anything casting them. And the cold—it was worse than outside, like the temperature of a grave.

I reached the first intersection and stopped. Three paths. No signs. No clues.

"Choose wrong, and you die," I muttered. "No pressure."

I closed my eyes and tried to remember what Iris had started to say before Morgana arrived. Something about the maze feeding on fear. Showing you your worst memories.

When I opened my eyes, the center corridor was glowing faintly. My mark was burning, pulling me toward it.

Was that helping me? Or leading me into a trap?

I didn't have a choice. I walked down the glowing path.

The corridor opened into a room, and my heart stopped.

I was standing in my old family home—the sitting room where my father used to read to me. Every detail was perfect. The blue curtains. The portrait of my mother above the fireplace. Even the smell of wood smoke and roses.

"This isn't real," I said firmly. "It's a trick."

"Is it?"

I spun around.

My father stood there, exactly as I remembered him. Kind eyes. Warm smile. The gray streak in his dark hair.

"Papa?" My voice cracked.

"Aria, my darling girl." He opened his arms. "I've missed you so much."

Every instinct screamed at me to run to him. To hug him one more time. To hear him say he loved me again.

But he was dead. Three years dead.

"You're not real," I whispered, even as tears burned my eyes.

"I'm as real as you need me to be." He stepped closer. "I'm so sorry, Aria. Sorry I left you alone with Celeste. Sorry I didn't protect you."

The words shattered something inside me. "I needed you. When Marcus humiliated me, when Celeste stole everything, when I had nothing—I needed you, and you were gone."

"I know." His voice was full of pain. "But I can make it right. Stay here with me. In this memory. You'll be safe. You'll never have to face the vampires, never have to die in twelve days. Just stay."

It was so tempting. To hide here in the past, where I'd been loved and safe.

But it was a lie.

"If you were really my father," I said, forcing the words out, "you'd tell me to fight. To survive. To never give up." I stepped back. "You taught me to be strong. Don't ask me to be weak now."

The image of my father flickered. His warm expression twisted into something cruel. "You always were too stubborn. Just like your mother. And look where that got her—dead."

The room dissolved around me. I was back in the maze, alone, with my father's final words echoing off the stone walls.

Just like your mother.

Everyone kept mentioning her. Celeste. Sebastian. Morgana. Even this cursed maze.

What secret had my mother been hiding?

I ran forward, following the pull of my mark through twisting corridors. The maze threw more visions at me—Marcus laughing as he married Vivienne, Celeste burning my mother's belongings, Elena dying in a pool of blood—but I pushed through each one.

"Not real!" I screamed at the shadows. "None of this is real!"

Finally, after what felt like hours, I saw light ahead. A doorway.

The exit.

I stumbled through it and fell to my knees, gasping. I'd made it. I'd survived Morgana's test.

"Impressive."

I looked up. Sebastian stood there in a massive chamber lit by hundreds of candles. His ice-blue eyes studied me with that same intense focus from before.

"Three hours and forty-seven minutes," he said. "A new record. Even faster than your mother."

I struggled to my feet. "Everyone keeps talking about my mother. What was she to you? Why was she here twenty-five years ago?"

Sebastian's expression remained cold, but something flickered in his eyes. Pain, maybe. Or regret.

"Your mother wasn't chosen as a bride," he said quietly. "She came here voluntarily. To make a bargain."

My blood turned to ice. "What kind of bargain?"

"The kind that saved your life." He stepped closer. "Eleanor Thornwell came to this palace twenty-five years ago, walked through Morgana's maze, and offered me something no human had offered in centuries." His voice dropped to barely a whisper. "Herself. Her blood. Her life force. In exchange, I promised to protect her daughter—you—until you turned twenty-five."

The world tilted. "That's impossible. I never needed vampire protection—"

"Didn't you?" Sebastian interrupted. "You had a fatal blood disease as a child. The healers said you'd die before your first birthday. But your mother made a deal with me. I gave her a single drop of my blood to cure you. In return, she promised that when you turned twenty-five, you would come to the Crimson Vale."

"No." I shook my head. "No, that's not—"

"The Mark doesn't lie, Aria. You weren't randomly chosen. You were promised to me before you were even born." His eyes bored into mine. "Your mother traded her life to save yours. She died giving birth to you because vampire blood had poisoned her body. And with her last breath, she made me swear I would keep you safe until you were old enough to survive the transformation."

"Transformation?" The word barely made it past my lips.

Sebastian's smile was cold and sharp. "Did you think I requested you as a bride to drain you? No, Aria. I've waited twenty-five years for you to come of age. Your mother's bloodline carries something rare—something that hasn't existed in centuries."

He moved so fast I couldn't track it. Suddenly he was inches away, his cold hand lifting my chin.

"You're not meant to die in twelve days," he whispered. "You're meant to become like me. Immortal. Powerful. Mine."

His fangs descended, gleaming in the candlelight.

"And tonight, the transformation begins."