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THORNS IN THE CROWN
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2025-07-04 11:30:20**Chapter 15: Thorns in the Crown**
The spires of **Eldarhold** glinted under a pale winter sun, cold and sharp as the whispers that drifted through its marble halls. Deep beneath the Royal Citadel, the **Crown Tribunal** gathered — not in the public council chamber where laws were judged, but behind sealed bronze doors, far from the ears of the realm.The meeting room was circular, its domed ceiling painted with a celestial mural — twelve figures forming a broken ring. Eleven seats were filled. One remained forever empty.“The Hollow Queen has refused our summons,” Lord Malric said, voice heavy with disgust. “She burned the royal decree, threatened a commander, and invoked forbidden flamecraft in a courtly setting.”He leaned forward, fingers steepled, golden sigil rings glinting. “She is no longer a sovereign outlier. She is a hostile sovereign. That makes her a target.”“A symbol,” corrected **Lady Eryndor**, whose graying braid coiled
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**Chapter 35 – Section 1: Ashes and Oaths**The silence that followed Seraphine’s whisper stretched long and taut, like a bowstring pulled to its limit. Her fingertips, still trembling from the weight of her confession, hovered over Riven’s chest. Beneath them, his heartbeat pounded, steady and strong, but too fast—like her own.He didn’t speak immediately. His gaze searched her face as if looking for something hidden—truth behind her eyes, fear in the curve of her lips, love nestled somewhere between the shadows. Then, slowly, his hand lifted, brushing her cheek with a gentleness that felt reverent."You should hate me," he said at last, his voice rough. "For what I am. What I’ve done. What I didn’t do.""I should," she breathed. "But I don’t."Riven’s hand lingered. "Why?""Because even when I wanted to stop believing in you, I never could. Even when I doubted everything… you were the only thing that stayed." Her eyes shimmered, not from tears this time, but from something deeper—r
THE HEIR AND THE HOLLOW VOW The Tribunal Gamble
**Chapter 34 – The Tribunal’s Gamble****\The Gate of Hollow Gold]***(POV – Seraphine)*The walls of the Hollow Court rose like ribs of a dead god, gilded and glistening with power. They breathed—*in* and *out*—as if alive, as if *watching*. Every step Seraphine took on the obsidian path echoed like a warning.At the gate stood a figure cloaked in midnight.Not a guard.Not a Tribunal member.But **Maldrin**—her cousin.The same cousin who’d vanished ten years ago. The one whispered to have died in a rebellion. The one her mother said betrayed the family.He didn’t smile.> “You came,” he said, voice like wind scraping bone.She didn’t speak.> “You look just like her,” he added. “And the Court remembers her. You’re the storm she left unfinished.”> “And you?” Seraphine asked coldly.> “I’m what happens when loyalty meets fire.”He turned, gesturing toward the gate.> “They’re waiting.”---**\[Bloodlines and Oaths Awakened]***(POV – Riven)*“Tell me everything,” Riven demanded, pac
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**Chapter 32 – The Crown That Cuts** **\[The Girl in Her Arms]** **\[POV – Seraphine]** Kaela's skin was ice. Her breath came in shallow pulls, the silver still flickering beneath her veins like something alive, something that hadn't entirely let go. Seraphine knelt in the ash-covered hallway, Kaela’s body slack in her arms. Her magic pulsed against her ribs like it wanted to crawl out and wrap around her friend — not to heal, but to *shield.* > “Stay with me,” Seraphine whispered. “Don’t let them take anything else from us.” Kaela's fingers twitched. Then a whisper. > “They showed me… what it would look like if you ruled.” Seraphine stiffened. > “What?” Kaela’s eyes fluttered open — just barely. “They told me… you would become her. Elira. Cold. Sharp. Alone. That the throne eats love, one piece at a time. And you’d *let it.*” The words hurt more than blades. Not because they were cruel. But because… they sounded like something Seraphine feared *might* be true. --- *
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### **Chapter 31– Embers That Remember****\[ Bloodlines and Broken Names]****\[POV – Seraphine]**She hadn’t moved.The flame had long died down, but her legs still trembled as though the fire still whispered.Her father.Not lost in war. Not stolen by time.A Tribunal commander. Loyal. Smiling beside her mother like they were allies — or worse, *in love.*> “Why would she hide this?” she whispered, the question cutting deeper than any blade.> “Why would she tell me he died as a hero?”Riven didn’t answer at first.Because he didn’t know how.Because *he*, too, had known lies like this — stories told to protect, or control.> “Maybe because she knew the truth would burn you faster than any flame.”Seraphine sank to her knees beside the dying vault pool. The chamber felt colder, like her mother’s memory had pulled away.“She warned me never to trust the Tribunal,” she murmured. “But she trusted *him.*”Riven crouched beside her.“She trusted someone who betrayed her. And still… she
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