Chapter 36: Fire and Crown

The war room was colder than usual, despite the roaring hearth.

Elias paced before the strategy table, his fists clenched behind his back, his eyes narrowed on the scrolls and maps littering the polished oak surface. Advisors murmured nervously, but no one dared speak over the sharp edge of his silence.

The Council’s threat was no longer implied — it was a declaration.

“Reclamation.”

A sterile word for a violent act. They wanted to strip Serena of her crown, of her birthright. Of him.

“Where is she?” Elias asked.

Kai, his Beta and most trusted warrior, shifted uneasily. “Still in the eastern woodlands. The Moon Flame enclave has sealed the perimeter with enchantments. We can’t track her. Not easily.”

Elias let out a slow breath. “She should have been back by now.”

“She will come back,” Kai said carefully. “She’s stronger than she knows.”

That was what frightened Elias most.

Because strength in the wrong hands — even Serena’s own — could be devastating. Power without control, heart without guidance. And the Council would use that fear to justify their attack.

He turned sharply to the others. “Send word to the eastern scouts. If they see even a glimmer of Council banners approaching our border, they’re to alert me immediately.”

A general stepped forward. “Your Majesty, if the Council moves, they will come in full force. Are we prepared to challenge them directly?”

Elias’s golden eyes gleamed. “We won’t challenge them. We’ll bury them if we must.”

Serena stood atop a sacred cliff within the Moon Flame camp, her cloak billowing in the wind. Below her, the forest stretched like a dark sea, broken only by rivers of moonlight.

Nael stood beside her, arms folded. “You feel it now, don’t you?”

Serena nodded. “The fire. It’s always there now. Like a second heartbeat.”

“Because it is.”

The mark on her palm hadn’t faded. It glowed faintly at all hours, pulsing with energy. Since the ritual, her senses had sharpened. She could hear the rustling of mice in the grass. Feel the vibration of underground streams. Smell the difference between fear and excitement in those around her.

It was overwhelming.

And intoxicating.

“I saw my mother,” she whispered. “She wasn’t killed by rogues. The Council murdered her.”

Nael’s silence was answer enough.

Serena clenched her fists. “Why? Why would they kill one of their own?”

“Because she refused to suppress her bloodline. Because she refused to kill you before you grew strong.”

Serena’s breath caught.

Nael’s expression softened. “The Council thrives on fear. Fear of change. Fear of prophecy. You are both.”

Serena turned back to the forest. “They’ll come for me.”

“Yes.”

“Then let them.”

Hours later, Serena returned to the palace under moonlight, cloaked and alone.

The guards let her through with hesitant bows, whispers trailing her path. She could feel their unease. They saw the change in her eyes. In her step. In the way the very air around her seemed to bend.

She found Elias in the throne room, standing at the base of the dais, arms tense, jaw clenched. His relief when he saw her was instant but quickly gave way to caution.

“You’re different,” he said.

Serena stepped closer. “So are you.”

He studied her face. “You saw it all?”

She nodded. “My mother. The seal. The truth about the Council.”

Elias swallowed. “They’ve declared you compromised. They’ve sent riders to the Northern Gate.”

“They want to take me from you.”

“They’ll have to go through me first.”

Serena lifted her palm. The golden glow reappeared.

“They’ll have to go through us.”

A silence stretched between them — thick with the weight of prophecy and love and the inevitability of war.

Elias reached out and touched her face. “I don’t care if you burn, Serena. I will burn with you.”

She leaned into his touch. “No. We won’t burn. We’ll rise.”

At dawn, the Council’s vanguard arrived at the Northern Gate.

Hundreds of armored soldiers on horseback. Cloaked emissaries in silver, bearing banners with the ancient insignia — not of peace, but conquest.

Serena stood atop the wall beside Elias, her cloak flaring behind her like wings of fire.

A horn sounded.

The lead emissary called out: “Queen Serena. You are hereby summoned to relinquish your crown and magic, as decreed by the High Council of Elders. Refusal will be met with force.”

Serena’s voice rang clear, amplified by magic.

“You murdered my mother.”

Gasps rippled through the soldiers.

“You lied. Manipulated. Hunted me before I ever knew who I was.”

She raised her hand. The golden fire surged, spiraling into the sky in a brilliant arc.

“And now, you want to reclaim something that was never yours. I reject your decree.”

She stepped forward. “Come at me, and you will not find a scared girl. You will find a queen.”

The flames behind her roared.

Elias moved beside her, drawing his sword.

The emissary’s hand trembled on his reins.

The Moon Flame was awake.

And war had just begun.