Music Suggestion: "Dead in the Water" – Aurora (play softly in the background as you read)
The Council Chamber stood silent, its ancient torches flickering like dying stars. Shadows stretched long across the marble floor as Lucian stood alone, the weight of centuries pressing into his spine. They had taken Kyrell from his sight again—dragged him out like something profane, something cursed.
And yet, it wasn't Kyrell they feared.
It was what he awakened in Lucian.
His fingers curled into the cold stone rail before him. He could still smell him. Still feel the boy's heartbeat where it had once echoed against his own chest.
"You broke code," Renak's voice echoed distantly, more brittle than thunder. "And you'll do it again. We all know it."
Lucian didn't turn. He didn't need to. The council's whispers had grown louder, greedier. They no longer feared the fall of a king—they hungered for it.
---
Meanwhile, far below the keep, Kyrell knelt, not from submission, but from exhaustion. His wrists were bound in silver-threaded cuffs that hissed against his skin like betrayal made flesh. He breathed raggedly, half in this world, half in another. The ancient voice inside him—the one he'd heard in the ruined kingdom—was now louder, nearer.
> "They fear what sleeps inside you, child of dusk."
He didn't know if he was dying or becoming something terrifyingly alive.
But one thing was certain—Lucian's blood still throbbed in his veins, calling him, pulling him…
Even now.
---
Back above, Mara stood in the westward tower, her pale face reflected against stained glass. Below, the courtyard teemed with tension. Word had spread: the king's forbidden lover was to be judged, and the council would decide if Lucian would fall with him.
She whispered into the shadows beside her.
"You have everything you need, don't you?"
The figure beside her didn't move, but his smile curved like a blade.
> "More than enough," Silas replied. "You've done beautifully."
---
That night, a decision would be made.
But Lucian was no longer the compliant king they remembered.
When he descended the stairs to face them, his armor was not metal but fury. Not forged by rule, but by heartbreak.
"You want him gone?" he said, voice cutting like ice. "Then you'll have to tear him from my corpse."