The throne room was lit by firelight, smoke curling through shattered windows. King Alden stood before his children, crown askew, eyes blazing with wrath.
"You shame this kingdom," he thundered. "Adrian with his secret perversions, Selene with her treasonous love, Dorian with his scandals. You are unworthy of the crown you were born to bear!"
But Adrian stepped forward, shoulders straight, voice steady at last. "No, Father. It is not shame to love truly. It is not weakness to be who we are. Eloria does not need a king who hides behind lies—it needs rulers who stand in truth."
Selene raised her chin, clasping Elara's hand for all to see. "If loving her is treason, then I am guilty, and I will not repent."
Dorian smirked, though his eyes were sharp as steel. "And without my scandals, dear Father, your throne would already be ash beneath our feet. It was I who uncovered the traitor you ignored."
The hall fell silent. Even Alden, furious and proud, could not deny the strength before him. His children—flawed, defiant, unyielding—stood together, unshaken by crown or tradition.
Outside, the bells tolled. The enemy was driven back, the traitor unmasked, and the kingdom scarred but unbroken.
Adrian looked toward the throne, then to his siblings. For the first time, the crown no longer felt like chains. It felt like a burden he could bear—because he would not bear it alone.
And so, beneath the shattered spires of Caerwyn, the truth was no longer hidden. Love and loyalty, blood and fire, had reshaped the future of Eloria. The weight of the crown remained heavy—but it rested upon a new foundation: truth, unity, and the courage to defy the past.