The moment Kaedan’s words crashed through the Blood Court — “The Sharing Law is dead” — the room combusted.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Magic crackled like lightning snapping through dry air.
Rhaelle’s eyes went feral. “You cannot undo an ancient law!”
Vaelen barked, “This is treason!”
Brakus slammed his staff. “Seize the Emperor—”
Kaedan’s roar drowned them all.
“COME AT ME AND DIE!”
His aura erupted, blowing half the council off their feet. Ariaxa staggered, gripping the pillar behind her as the room shook.
The nobles drew weapons. Triarch guards poured in from every doorway.
And all of them surged toward her.
Not Kaedan.
Her.
Ariaxa’s breath hitched as a blade sliced the air toward her chest—
Kaedan moved faster than sight.
He grabbed her waist, yanked her behind him, and the blade meant for her throat splintered against his forearm. His snarl ripped through the hall, primal and murderous.
“She stays behind me,” he hissed. “Always.”
Magic flared, and steel screamed.
A noble lunged.
Another followed.
Ariaxa ducked as Kaedan tore through them like a storm.
Then—
“Princess!”
Riven burst through the smoke, sword already red with someone else’s blood.
He planted himself at her side, back-to-back with Kaedan.
“Guard her,” Kaedan snarled.
“I already am,” Riven answered.
For one heartbeat, the two men looked at each other — enemies, protectors, rivals — and something unspoken passed between them.
Then the court exploded again.
A Triarch soldier lunged for Ariaxa’s throat.
Ariaxa reacted without thinking.
The Sun blade in her hand flared bright as a miniature dawn. She slashed upward, blinding the soldier. Kaedan finished him with a hand through his chest.
Ariaxa gasped.
Kaedan looked at her — really looked — even as more attackers swarmed.
“Good,” he growled. “Again.”
She barely had time to breathe before another Triarch warrior swung a poisoned hook toward her wrist. She blocked with trembling arms, sparks shooting off her Sun blade. The hit numbed her elbow.
Kaedan’s fury thickened the air.
“Stay behind me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” she snapped back, “but I can fight too!”
To prove it, she spun and slammed her blade into another soldier’s leg. He screamed and collapsed.
Kaedan’s eyes burned with something dark and electric.
“Then fight with me.”
Not behind him.
With him.
The admission hit her harder than any blade.
She moved.
He moved.
Their bodies synched in a terrifying, instinctive rhythm:
He opened a path—
She blinded the archers.
She stumbled—
He caught her waist and hurled a guard aside.
A spear flew toward Kaedan’s spine—
Ariaxa dove, Sun blade flashing, cutting it in half.
He looked down at her, startled.
She looked up at him, panting.
A breath passed.
Just one.
Then the world rushed back in screams and blood.
Riven dragged a noble off her, slamming him into a column. “They’re targeting her! Fall back!”
Kaedan snarled, “I do not fall back!”
Another wave of Triarch soldiers poured in.
Magic crackled like storms colliding.
Ariaxa felt heat surging through her, memories of Elyndor fire halls and childhood rituals. She thrust her palm outward and the Sun mark under her skin glowed like molten gold.
Light exploded.
It blasted across the battlefield like a solar flare. Triarch banners burned. Warriors shielded their eyes, screaming.
Kaedan’s head whipped toward her.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know!”
But she did.
Sun blood.
Forbidden power.
Her father’s legacy.
Riven shielded her from falling debris, shouting, “The chamber is collapsing! We must go!”
Kaedan’s aura surged violently. “No. We finish this.”
A massive blow hit the pillar above them. Ariaxa cried out as stone cracked and dust rained over her shoulders.
Kaedan’s body slammed into hers, shielding her completely.
Riven yelled, “Your Majesty—!”
“Get away!” Kaedan roared.
His arms tightened around Ariaxa.
He wasn’t protecting the Emperor’s slave.
He was protecting her.
For the first time in her life, Ariaxa felt the truth settle heavy and terrifying in her chest:
Kaedan would die for her.
The thought made her dizzy.
And then—
Vaelen screamed an order from across the chaos: “Fall back! Regroup! We live to try again!”
The Triarch soldiers retreated, dragging their wounded.
Silence fell jagged over the ruins of the Blood Court.
Smoke drifted from broken pillars.
Blood dripped from shattered steps.
Bodies littered the floor.
The once-beautiful chamber now looked like a battlefield.
Ariaxa realized—
Kaedan had just declared war on his entire ruling class.
He stood there panting, blood streaking his jaw, chest rising and falling in sharp motions. His hand clenched around Ariaxa’s wrist, refusing to let go.
Riven stepped forward, chest heaving. “Your Majesty… this will spark civil war.”
Kaedan didn’t react.
His eyes were fixed on Ariaxa like she was the only thing left intact in the world.
Slowly, he reached up — cupping her face with a blood-smeared hand.
She froze.
“Ariaxa,” he whispered, breath shaking, “…you changed my destiny tonight.”
Her heart raced.
Not because he sounded angry.
Because he sounded undone.