Kaelen's POV.
Silas lay crumpled near the hearth, his neck snapped by Fenrir's bare hands. The remaining Shadow Wolves were little more than red smears against the marble.
Outside, the roar of the mutinous army and the screaming mob battered against the heavy doors.
Fenrir turned to me, his sword dripping blood onto the floor. He was shaking, not with fear, but with a violent, suppressed rage.
"You're happy now, aren't you?" Fenrir's voice was low.
"Happy?" I wiped a spray of gore from my eye. "I'm alive. The palace is still standing. That's enough for today."
"You provoked this!" Fenrir roared, stepping toward me. He swung his sword, the tip was mere inches from my throat before slamming into the heavy oak table, splitting it in two. "You burned the North! You let the refugees starve! You gave them every reason to open the gates to my mother's assassins!"
"I gave them a reason to fear the consequences of treason!" I stepped into his space, my chin up. "If I had played the saint, we'd both be headless in the courtyard. I played the devil to keep your crown on your head, and this is the thanks I get?"
Fenrir grabbed the front of my tunic, lifting me until my toes barely touched the floor.
"I never asked for this! I wanted to rule a kingdom, not a graveyard! You've turned my people into animals, and you've turned me into a butcher!"
"You were always a butcher, Fenrir! You just liked to pretend the blood was only on your sword and not your hands!" I spat. "Strike me. Go on. Finish what Hecate started. Kill the only person who actually kept you alive."
Fenrir's grip tightened, the Alpha instinct screaming at him to crush the threat in front of him.
I let the bond between us settle. It was a raw, jagged connection of shared trauma and hatred.
He let out a frustrated growl and threw me back. I hit the throne with a heavy thud.
"The mob is at the door, Fenrir," I said, gasping for air. "You can stand there and moralize until they tear us apart, or you can be the Emperor. Choose."
Fenrir looked at the shattered doors, looked at the blood on his hands. Then, he looked at me.
"Torin!" Fenrir shouted.
The Captain of the Guard stepped through the side entrance, his face pale.
"Majesty?"
"Open the main doors," Fenrir commanded.
"Majesty, the mob—"
"I said open the doors!"
Torin signaled the men. The heavy iron bolts were pulled back. The doors groaned open, revealing a large crowd of torches and thousands of angry, soot-stained faces.
At the front stood the mutinous soldiers, their pikes leveled at the throne.
Fenrir stepped onto the dais.
"You want my head?" Fenrir's voice carried the crowd, silencing it with sheer authority. "You want to hand this Empire to the woman who executed your Princess on a stone wall? You want to join the rebels who burned your fields?"
"We want the Demon!" a soldier shouted, pointing at me. "We want the Prince of Ash!"
"The Prince of Ash acted on my orders!" Fenrir roared. I looked at his back, stunned. "Every fire, every execution, and every closed gate was by my command. If you want his blood, you take mine first."
The crowd wavered. The soldiers looked at each other, they had expected to find a captive Emperor and a villainous consort.
"Kneel," Fenrir commanded.
No one moved.
"I said kneel!" Fenrir's Alpha command hit the room like a shockwave. The power behind it was so immense that the front three rows of the mob collapsed to their knees instantly. The soldiers followed, their pikes clattering to the stone.
Fenrir turned to me. He stepped back and, in front of the thousands of people watching, he sank to one knee and bowed his head.
"The Empire is yours to command, Regent," Fenrir said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Lead us."
A collective gasp went up from the hall.
The Emperor had submitted, publicly. To an Omega. By taking the blame and then yielding, he had paralyzed the rebellion.
I walked up, my heart hammering against my ribs. I looked out at the crowd of people bowing before me.
"Get up," I said, my voice cold. "The purge isn't over. General Marcus, take the Fifth Legion. Anyone found with a white armband is to be executed in the square. No exceptions. Torin, clear the streets. If a single torch is still lit by dawn, I'll burn the district again."
The soldiers fled the hall to carry out the orders, driven by a fear that had been validated by their own ruler.
Fenrir stood up, he didn't look at me. He began to walk toward the private chambers.
"Why did you do that?" I asked.
"Because the Empire needs a monster to survive the night," Fenrir said, stopping at the door. "And I've decided to let you be that monster. But don't mistake my submission for forgiveness, Kaelen. I'll never forgive you for Lyra."
"I can live with your hate," I said. "As long as you're alive to feel it."
"Be careful what you wish for," he replied, and vanished into the hallways.
I was meant to feel fulfilled but instead, I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my chest. It wasn't the bond. It was a physical sensation, a heat in the pocket where I kept the royal signet. I pulled out a small, black stone, a communication relic from the Blue Moon.
The stone was glowing a violent, pulsing red.
A voice crackled from the stone. It wasn't my father's, it was the voice of the High Admiral of the Blue Moon Navy.
"The Prince has failed to return," the voice said. "The bridge is broken. The southern border of the Iron Fang is now a target. We have crossed the Oakhaven line. Tell the 'Emperor' that his dowry is being collected in blood."
I ran to the window. In the distance, a line of fire was moving across the plains, miles long.
"Fenrir!" I shouted, sprinting toward his chambers.
I burst through the door. Fenrir was standing by the window, already looking south. He could see the flames of his burning border cities.
"My father didn't wait for Hecate," I said, my breath coming in short gasps. "The Blue Moon has invaded. They've bypassed the fortresses."
Fenrir looked at me, a hollow, terrifying smile on his lips. "It seems your 'nine lives' aren't going to be enough, Kaelen."
"We can hold them at the river," I said.
"No," Fenrir said, pointing to a second line of fire appearing on the eastern ridge. "Look. They're already behind us."