ELARA'S POV
"You're lying."
The words burst from my lips before the soldiers could drag me through the throne room doors. I planted my feet, refusing to move despite the silk ropes cutting into my wrists.
Cassian Thorne didn't turn around. He stood with his back to me, my starlight crown dangling from his blood-stained fingers like a broken toy.
"Your Majesty, please—" one soldier whispered urgently, tugging my arm.
I yanked free. "I said you're LYING! My council would never murder anyone! We're a kingdom of peace, of—"
"Of pretty lies and hidden daggers?" Cassian turned slowly. Those storm-gray eyes pinned me in place. "Tell me, Queen Elara, how well did you actually know your council?"
"Better than you ever could!"
"Really?" He took three steps toward me. The soldiers backed away like he was fire and they were paper. "Then tell me where Councilor Vex ran to. The man who abandoned you the moment fighting started."
My stomach twisted. I'd seen Vex's face when he fled—that flash of something ugly.
"He was scared," I said, but my voice wavered.
"He was guilty." Cassian stopped just beyond arm's reach. "He and Councilors Thane and Morrow orchestrated my brother's assassination five years ago. They feared Ashencourt was becoming too powerful, too prosperous. So they hired assassins, framed it as an internal coup, and let my brother die screaming in his own blood."
"No. No, you're just saying that to—to justify this invasion, to make yourself feel—"
"I have letters." His voice went deadly quiet. "Signed confessions from the assassins we captured. Bank records showing payments from Luminveil's treasury to known killers. I spent five years gathering proof before I came here."
The room spun. I grabbed onto the only truth I knew for certain: "Even if that's true—even if some council members did something terrible—that doesn't give you the right to burn my city! To kill my guards! To—"
"I didn't want to burn anything." Something cracked in his controlled expression. "I sent three diplomatic letters over the past year, requesting your government turn over the conspirators for trial. All three were returned unopened. I sent an ambassador. He was turned away at your gates. I even tried to request an audience with you personally."
"I never received any—" I stopped. Because I hadn't. But would my council have shown me? Would Vex have told me an enemy king wanted to speak with me?
Oh gods. What if he was telling the truth?
"The invasion was meant to be surgical," Cassian continued. "Capture the three guilty councilors, execute them, and leave. But your council activated your city's defensive wards the moment they spotted my army. Wards that locked everyone inside—civilians, soldiers, everyone. They used your people as shields."
"You still attacked! You still—"
"I gave them two hours to surrender the guilty parties." His jaw clenched. "They spent those two hours fortifying their own escape routes while leaving the citizens trapped. So yes, I broke through your gates. Yes, I burned whatever stood between me and justice. But I never targeted civilians. Check with your people. Ask them who they saw my soldiers killing."
I wanted to call him a liar again. But I remembered the invasion—how the soldiers had poured past the fleeing citizens, heading straight for the palace. How they'd ignored the festival-goers in favor of armed guards.
"The guards who died protecting me," I whispered. "They were just doing their duty."
"I know." For the first time, he sounded almost human. Almost sad. "War doesn't care about duty. It just cares about who's standing in the way."
The soldiers shifted uncomfortably. One of them cleared his throat.
"Your Majesty, the wagon is ready. We need to move before—"
"Before what?" I looked between them and Cassian. "Before my 'guilty' council members escape? Is that why you're in such a hurry to get me out of here?"
Cassian's expression shuttered closed again. "The wagon. Now."
"Tell me the truth!" I demanded. "If you have all this evidence, why do you need me? Why not just execute whoever you think is guilty and leave?"
He stepped so close I could see my reflection in his armor. "Because your council is already gone. Fled through their secret tunnels the moment my army breached the outer walls. And the only way I can draw them back is if I have something they can't afford to lose."
Understanding crashed over me like cold water. "You're using me as bait."
"I'm using you as justice." He held up my crown. "They abandoned you, Elara. Left you to die while they ran. But they can't let you remain in enemy hands—not when you know all their secrets, all their plans. They'll try to rescue you or kill you to keep you silent. Either way, they'll expose themselves."
"So I'm not a prisoner. I'm a trap."
"You're both." He handed my crown to a nearby soldier. "Take this to the treasury vault. Guard it well."
As they carried away the symbol of everything I'd lost, Cassian gestured to the throne room doors. "We have a three-day journey to Ashencourt. You can spend it hating me. Most prisoners do."
"I don't hate you." The words surprised us both. "I don't know you enough to hate you. But I will. Give me time, and I promise I'll hate you with everything I am."
Something almost like respect flickered in his eyes. "Fair enough."
The soldiers led me out into the corridor. Smoke still hung in the air, but the fighting had stopped. I heard sobbing from somewhere deeper in the palace—survivors, hiding, grieving.
My people. Suffering because of secrets I'd never known existed.
Outside, a covered wagon waited in the courtyard. Bodies lay scattered across the stones—guards, soldiers, civilians caught in the crossfire. I recognized some faces. Young Sara, who'd been acting in the children's play, clutched her mother's hand even in death.
I stopped breathing.
"Keep moving," a soldier said, not unkindly.
They helped me into the wagon. The interior was surprisingly comfortable—cushioned seats, thick curtains, lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A rolling prison designed for a queen.
As I settled onto the bench, Cassian appeared at the wagon entrance. He studied me for a long moment.
"For what it's worth," he said quietly, "I'm sorry it came to this."
"Are you sorry enough to let me go?"
"No."
"Then your sorry means nothing."
He almost smiled. Almost. Then he pulled something from his belt—a sealed letter with my royal council's wax stamp.
"This was in Councilor Vex's chambers. Found it on his desk, apparently written in haste." He tossed it to me. "Read it during the journey. Or don't. Your choice."
Before I could respond, he closed the wagon door. I heard him giving orders outside—soldiers mounting horses, supply wagons forming up, the whole army preparing to move.
I looked down at the letter in my bound hands. The seal was definitely Vex's—I'd seen it on a thousand documents.
My fingers trembled as I broke the wax and unfolded the parchment.
The first line made my blood turn to ice:
"Thane and Morrow, the Ashencourt king suspects. We must eliminate the girl before she learns the truth about her parents' death."
The girl. Me.
The truth about my parents' death.
My parents had died in a "magical accident" five years ago. The same year Cassian's brother was assassinated.
The same year.
I read the letter again, my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold the paper.
"The fire that took the old king and queen wasn't an accident—it was necessary to secure our control. If the daughter discovers we orchestrated it, she'll use her diplomatic magic to expose us. She must die before the Ashencourt invasion. Make it look like collateral damage. Burn the throne room with her inside."
The wagon lurched into motion. Through the curtains, I glimpsed my burning city falling away behind us.
My council hadn't just betrayed Ashencourt.
They'd murdered my parents.
And they'd tried to murder me tonight too.
Which meant Cassian Thorne, the man who'd destroyed my kingdom, had actually saved my life.
I clutched the letter to my chest and finally let myself cry—not for my lost crown or conquered city, but for the terrible possibility that the enemy might be the only honest person left in my world.
Outside, someone called for the wagon to stop.
The door flew open. Cassian stood there, his expression unreadable.
"There's something you need to see before we leave."
He didn't wait for permission—just grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the wagon.
We stood at the edge of the courtyard. His soldiers parted, revealing three figures kneeling in the dirt with hands bound behind their backs.
Councilor Thane. Councilor Morrow.
And Councilor Vex, his official robes torn and muddy.
"We caught them trying to escape through the catacombs," Cassian said. "Funny thing—they had your entire treasury loaded onto pack horses. Planning to start fresh somewhere far away."
Vex looked up at me, and I saw no remorse in his eyes. Only cold calculation.
"Your Majesty," he said smoothly, "whatever lies this barbarian has told you—"
"Did you kill my parents?" The question ripped from my throat.
His expression didn't change. That was answer enough.
"Did you?" I screamed.
"It was necessary," Vex said calmly. "They were going to forge an alliance with Ashencourt. We couldn't allow—"
I didn't remember moving. One second I was standing beside Cassian. The next, I was on my knees in front of Vex, my bound hands wrapped around his throat.
Magic exploded from me—not the pretty diplomatic magic I'd trained in, but something dark and wild and furious. Black shadows poured from my fingers, wrapping around Vex's neck like living snakes.
He screamed.
Hands grabbed me—Cassian's hands—pulling me back. But the shadows didn't stop. They kept squeezing, feeding on my rage, my grief, my absolute fury.
"Elara, stop!" Cassian's voice cut through my madness. "STOP!"
I couldn't. The shadows had their own hunger now.
Cassian spun me around, forcing me to look at him instead of Vex. "If you kill him now, you'll never get answers. Never know the full truth. Is that what you want?"
The shadows wavered.
"Let me have him," Cassian said quietly. "Let me do this the right way. Trial. Evidence. Justice. Not murder."
Slowly, painfully, I pulled the shadows back. They retreated into me like reluctant pets.
Vex collapsed, gasping and clawing at his throat.
I looked at my hands—still bound, but now surrounded by wisps of dark smoke.
"What..." I whispered. "What was that?"
Cassian's expression was grim. "That, little queen, was something your diplomatic training never prepared you for."
He gestured to his soldiers. They hauled the three councilors to their feet.
"We ride for Ashencourt," Cassian announced. "And we're bringing these traitors to face proper justice."
As they dragged the councilors away, Vex looked back at me one last time.
"You have no idea what you've awakened," he hissed. "The magic in your bloodline was suppressed for a reason. Now you've unleashed it, and it will destroy you from the inside."
"Shut up," Cassian snapped.
But Vex just laughed—a horrible, knowing sound. "Ask your new captor about chaos magic, Your Majesty. Ask him what happened to the last person in his family who had it. Ask him what it cost them."
Cassian's face went white.
And I realized that whatever had just awakened inside me, it terrified even the conquering king.