Ashen watched Korrath burn with life from the high ridge above the canyon. Fires flared in celebration now—war drums thundered through the night, and banners snapped in the wind. The outlaw world had chosen its side.
Kael Ardyn lived.
The news had reached her through silent channels within minutes of the blood pact. Veyra had aligned herself with the exile. The rebellion had taken its first true breath.
Ashen felt no anger. No frustration. Only focus.
"Confirmation received," one of the Shadowhands whispered through the encrypted link. "The queen has pledged her forces. The Ark remains intact."
Ashen inclined her head slightly. "Then the game has changed."
Around her, the remaining Shadowhands waited—motionless figures draped in darkness, blades sheathed but ready. They had lost three operatives in the marketplace, a rare cost. Kael was sharper than expected. More dangerous.
Good.
Danger forced mistakes.
Far above Korrath, hidden within the ion haze of the system's outer orbit, a Council cruiser drifted in silence. Ashen's temporary command node pulsed with data—feeds from informants, intercepted transmissions, predictive models unfolding like spiderwebs across the holo-display.
She studied Kael Ardyn's movements, patterns, choices. A soldier, yes—but also a leader driven by loyalty, by the need to protect. Those were weaknesses masquerading as virtues.
"Kael Ardyn does not need to die yet," Ashen murmured. "Not while he can still be shaped."
One of the Shadowhands shifted. "Orders?"
Ashen's fingers traced a path across the holo-map—Havenreach, Korrath, the Ark, then branching outward to scattered systems Kael had marked as potential allies.
"We don't cut the head," she said. "We poison the body."
On Havenreach, the first fractures were already forming.
Ashen's agents had been seeded weeks ago—dock workers, traders, refugees rescued at just the right moment. They whispered fear into tired ears, sowed doubt in crowded halls.
Kael is gone.The Council will return.Veyra will sell us out.
Fear grew faster than hope ever could.
Ashen watched the feeds with clinical interest. "Pressure creates collapse," she said softly. "And collapse looks like choice."
Back on Korrath, Ashen prepared the next phase.
"Target Lyra Vale," she ordered.
A pause rippled through the link. "Capture?"
"No," Ashen replied calmly. "Isolate."
She brought Lyra's profile up—her bond to the Ark, her influence over Kael, the way his pulse spiked whenever her life was threatened.
"Make Kael choose," Ashen continued. "The rebellion or the woman he loves."
The Shadowhands acknowledged as one.
Ashen turned her gaze toward the distant glow of Korrath's fires. The rebellion celebrated tonight. Tomorrow, it would bleed in ways it did not yet understand.
Kael Ardyn believed he was building something new.
Ashen would show him what the Council had always known.
That hope was the sharpest blade of all—and the easiest to turn.