Chapter 3 - Ashes of the Old Regime
The transition of power within Blackstone Palace was swift, silent, and absolute. Within three hours of the shattered glass case and the melting of Malrec’s sword, the high officials of Edrin had transferred the royal seals, the treasury ledgers, and the administrative keys into Clara’s hands.
She sat not upon the grand, velvet-cushioned throne of Malrec—which she had ordered dragged into the courtyard and burned as refuse—but upon a simple wooden chair set before the high hearth of the royal solar. Her silver hair was braided loosely over her shoulder, intertwined with a thin ribbon of white silk that Celestine had given her.
Tomas sat beside her, a bowl of hot broth clutched in his hands, staring in awe at the intricate golden embroidery of the heavy wool blanket draped over his shoulders.
"Are you really a princess?" Tomas asked for the fifth time, his young eyes wide with a mixture of terror and fierce pride.
"I am whatever the kingdom needs me to be right now," Clara replied softly, slicing a piece of bread and handing it to him. "Eat, Tomas. Tomorrow, the work begins."
The door to the solar opened quietly, and Queen Celestine entered. A royal physician had bandaged the shallow wound on her neck, but the exhaustion etched into the lines around her eyes could not be so easily mended. She walked slowly, her footsteps falling softly on the Persian rugs, before stopping a few paces from Clara.
"The eastern gates have been secured," Celestine said, her voice steady. "Lord Vane has already dispatched riders to the outer provinces announcing the return of the Rowanvale line. The tax collectors have been recalled, and the granaries are being opened to the public."
"And the guards who served Malrec?" Clara asked, looking up.
"Disarmed and confined to the lower barracks," Celestine answered. "Those with blood on their hands will stand trial under the true laws of Edrin. The rest will be given a choice: swear allegiance to the crown or take the road south."
Clara nodded, staring into the flickering flames of the hearth. "I never knew my father. I grew up believing my world was no bigger than a copper washbasin and the sharp edge of a butcher’s knife. Now, entire cities depend on what I decide before the sun rises."
Celestine crossed the room and knelt beside Clara’s chair, taking her rough, scarred hands—hands that had scrubbed blood from steel and tested poison in golden goblets—into her own soft palms.
"You survived because your hands were hardened by the work, Clara," Celestine whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "A ruler who has never scrubbed a floor or tasted poison will always be blind to the suffering of the people beneath them. Malrec sat upon a throne of gold and saw nothing. You lived in the dark, which is why you brought the light."
Before Clara could reply, a sharp knock echoed at the heavy oak door.
Captain Jared, the commander of the palace guard who had been the first to drop his sword when the crown descended, stepped into the room. His face was grim, pale in the torchlight.
"Your Majesty," Jared said, bowing deeply to both Clara and the queen. "We have secured the lower dungeons. We found something in Malrec’s private archive—dispatches, letters sent across the northern border, addressed to the Iron Duke of Varek."
Clara’s brow furrowed. "Varek? They are our traditional enemies. What would Malrec be writing to them?"
Jared hesitated, handing over a heavy parchment sealed with black wax. "It is not just correspondence, Your Majesty. It is a treaty. Signed three weeks ago. Malrec knew his hold on the throne was crumbling. He traded the northern borderlands, three silver mines, and the sovereign rights of our ports... in exchange for an army of foreign mercenaries."
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Celestine’s face went completely bloodless. She snatched the parchment from Jared’s hands, her eyes scanning the hurried, furious script of the deposed king.
"He didn't just plan to rule over ruins," Celestine breathed, horror gripping her voice. "If he couldn't keep Edrin, he planned to burn it to the ground."
