The storm over Blackmoor Palace hadn’t broken for hours.
Thunder cracked like cannon fire across the sky as Cambria stood at the balcony of the east wing, watching the horizon bleed into shadows. Below her, the courtyard was teeming with guards, their armor glinting under the flickering torch lights. They were doubling the patrols ever since Knox’s last strike, nothing could be trusted. Not the walls. Not the silence. And certainly not the people.
Behind her, the doors creaked.
Cambria didn’t turn. "If you’re here to report that the western periter has been breached again, I already know."
Lucien’s voice was low and rough. "This ti, it’s not Knox."
She turned slowly, her silver gown sweeping across the stone like mist. Her crown, the one she had bled and fought for, rested lightly on her brow, but there was nothing light in her gaze.
"Who then?"
Lucien stepped into the light, his face grim. "The High Council of Elarith. They’re demanding an ergency summit."
Cambria narrowed her eyes. "They wouldn’t dare summon unless they thought I was weak."
"They don’t think you’re weak," Lucien said. "They think you’ve beco too powerful to control."
A bitter smile curved her lips. "Then they’re finally learning."
But even as she said it, a cold ripple stirred in her chest. The High Council had remained silent through war, rebellion, and the fall of Maddox’s empire. For them to now crawl out of the shadows ant one thing: soone had made them believe she was a threat to their order and soone had promised them a solution.
Evelyn.
Cambria moved from the balcony, her footsteps deliberate. "Summon Maddox. Now. And prepare my carriage. I’m going to the summit."
Lucien blinked. "You’re riding into enemy territory with a target on your back."
She looked over her shoulder. "What better place to remind them who the real queen is?"
In the dimly lit strategy chamber, Maddox Raye watched as Cambria’s silhouette erged from the storm-drenched corridor. He hadn’t seen her in hours, and yet every ti she returned to him, it was like he had to relearn how to breathe.
"You’re going to the summit?" he asked, jaw tight.
"Yes," she answered, unpinning the clasp of her cloak. "You’re coming with ."
He stepped forward. "They will not listen. You know that."
"I don’t intend to be heard," she said. "I intend to obey."
Maddox’s eyes narrowed, studying her. "What are you planning?"
She didn’t answer imdiately. Instead, she walked to the table, where the map of the realm lay open. Her hand hovered over the mountains that separated Blackmoor from the eastern city of Caer Thorne where the summit would be held.
"I’m going to show them what happens when they play with fire and forget who forged it."
The journey to Caer Thorne took two days.
Cambria traveled in silence, her mind a maze of calculations and mories. Every mile brought her closer not just to the Council but to Evelyn.
Since the revelation of her sister’s return, everything had shifted. Project Pandora had not been the end. It had been the beginning. The perfected weapons, the final protocol... all of it had been orchestrated to put Evelyn on the throne of shadows while Cambria ruled the ashes.
And Knox...
Her fingers tightened around the edge of her seat. He hadn’t made another move yet, but that was what terrified her most. The longer he waited, the deeper he burrowed into the unseen. And when he erged, it would be with a dagger she wouldn’t see coming.
Maddox sat across from her, watching her in the flickering candlelight.
"Do you trust ?" he asked.
Her eyes lifted. "That’s a dangerous question to ask right now."
"I an it."
She studied him. "I trust that you want the sa things I want."
"That’s not the sa as trusting ."
"No, it isn’t."
A tense silence fell between them.
Then he said softly, "I’m not going to betray you, Cambria."
"I know."
"But you still doubt ."
"Because I have to," she replied. "Because the mont I stop suspecting even the people I love is the mont I lose everything I’ve bled for."
His jaw clenched. "I’m not him."
She blinked. "Who?"
"Knox."
The carriage hit a bump, lurching them both slightly. Cambria stared at Maddox, the flicker of pain in his voice slicing through her.
"I know you’re not him," she whispered. "But sotis I wonder if I ever stopped waiting for you to beco him."
They arrived at Caer Thorne under a sky of molten gold. The city was old, its spires reaching like fingers toward a wounded heaven. Smoke curled from rooftops, and the streets were lined with banners of the Council’s crest, a seven-pointed star encircled by chains.
As Cambria stepped out of the carriage, the air shifted. The people bowed, but it was not reverence it was fear.
The summit hall lood ahead, a circular chamber of cold marble and colder intentions. The mont she entered, silence swept through the room like a blade.
Seven Council mbers stood at the dais, each wearing ceremonial cloaks. At the center was Veneris Thorne, the acting High Lord, with skin like sanded obsidian and eyes that had once watched kingdoms burn.
"Your Majesty," Veneris said, his voice smooth. "We thank you for answering our summons."
"I wasn’t summoned," Cambria replied coolly. "I was challenged."
A murmur passed through the chamber.
Veneris smiled. "Then let us speak plainly."
He motioned toward a vacant chair at the center of the room, a seat for sovereigns. Cambria did not sit.
"You’ve unleashed a weaponized dynasty upon the realm," said Lady Avelline, her voice sharp. "The Pandora units are destabilizing entire provinces."
"You refer to the units Evelyn stole control of?" Cambria asked. "Perhaps you should direct your grievances to her."
"She claims she’s working to restore order," said Lord Queren. "You, however, have rged with the God Engine."
More murmurs. So fearful, others curious.
Cambria stepped forward. "The God Engine saved your realm. It turned the tide against Seraphine’s final curse."
"And what did it cost you?" Veneris asked quietly. "Your humanity? Your soul?"
"My soul was never yours to asure."
"But your power is. And we can no longer allow it to go unchecked."
Cambria tilted her head. "So you’ve co to strip of it?"
"No," Veneris said. "We’ve co to give the throne to soone else."
The chamber fell into stunned silence.
Cambria’s heart turned to ice. "Who?"
The doors behind her groaned open.
Footsteps. Slow. asured.
And then Evelyn stepped into the room.
Alive. Dressed in white. Wearing a crown of crystal thorns.
Cambria didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Every nerve in her body scread betrayal.
"I am Evelyn Vale," her sister said, her voice ringing with false serenity. "The firstborn daughter of Seraphine. The rightful heir. And I have returned to restore what was broken."
The Council bowed.
Cambria stared at them. "You would bow to a ghost."
"We bow to the true Queen," Veneris said. "One who has not fused herself with a machine. One who has not built an empire on fear."
Evelyn stepped closer. "Sister. You can relinquish the throne peacefully. Or I will take it."
Maddox’s hand went to his sword. "You won’t lay a hand on her."
Evelyn’s gaze didn’t flicker. "You always were predictable, Raye."
Cambria raised her hand, stopping Maddox. "No."
Everyone turned to her.
"If you want the throne," Cambria said slowly, "then take it from ."
Evelyn smiled faintly. "Gladly."
She raised her arm
And the chamber walls exploded.
The sound was deafening. Guards scread. Stone shattered. Fire erupted as a swarm of black-armored soldiers poured into the summit hall, Evelyn’s personal guard, each one genetically enhanced, loyal only to her.
"Protect the Queen!" Maddox roared.
Cambria drew her dagger, her mind already calculating escape routes. But the enemy was everywhere.
Smoke. Blood. Betrayal.
In the chaos, Evelyn’s voice rang out calm, clear.
"This is not a coup," she said. "This is a reclamation."
And as the world burned around her, Cambria realized
The ga had changed.
This was no longer about who would rule the realm.
It was about who would survive it.
A piercing alarm cut through the smoke, followed by a chanical voice.
"PROJECT PANDORA: FINAL PROTOCOL INITIATED."
Cambria’s blood ran cold.
Evelyn’s smile widened.
"Good luck, sister."
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