Chapter 6 - Flight of the Broken
The grand audience chamber was reduced to a smoking ruin within minutes. Nobles fled in absolute panic, trampling over fallen banners and velvet gowns as they scrambled through the shattered southern gates into the courtyard.
In the inner courtyard, chaos reigned. The massive stone statues of the Three-Headed Dragon lining the fortress walls were no longer static monuments; their stone eyes glowed with the same terrifying blue-black fire that burned beneath Mara’s skin.
Julian had dragged Mara out of the collapsing hall, supported by two loyal guards who had refused to abandon their prince. They reached the royal stables, where horses reared and screamed in terror against their stalls, smelling the sulfurous charge in the air.
“We can’t stay in the capital,” Julian said, scanning the burning horizon. The northern mountains looked as though they were bleeding purple light into the clouds. “Cassian’s Vanguard will try to execute us both under the chaos of the collapse, and the palace won't survive another tremor.”
“The northern peak,” Mara whispered, her voice steadying as she gripped Julian’s armored arm. The glowing runes on her skin had dimmed to a soft, pulsing rhythm. “That’s where the primary seal is. If we don’t close it, the entire continent will shatter.”
“You expect me to ride into the heart of an ancient cataclysm with a kitchen maid who just melted an iron cage?” Julian asked, though there was no malice in his voice—only a grim, fatalistic acceptance of their entwined fates.
“I expect you to survive, Your Highness,” Mara replied, her dark eyes flashing with a fierce, royal defiance that belonged to no servant. “Because whether you want it or not, your bloodline is tied to mine now.”
Before Julian could answer, the stable doors exploded inward.
Cassian Veyne stood in the breach, battered and bleeding from his fall, but holding a heavy, double-barreled arbalest tipped with black-iron bolts. Two loyal Vanguard knights flanked him, their heavy crossbows drawn and aimed directly at Julian’s chest.
“End of the line, Your Highness,” Cassian snarled, his face twisted with mad triumph. “Step away from the vessel. If I can't control the throne, no one will.”
Julian instinctively shoved Mara behind him, drawing his sword with a ring of steel. “You’re a traitor to Whitmore, Cassian! You’ve doomed us all!”
“I am the only one with the vision to save it!” Cassian screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Thwack.
A heavy black-iron bolt whistled through the air—not toward Julian, but toward Mara.
With a sharp cry, Julian threw himself in front of the bolt. It buried itself deep into his shoulder plate, piercing the metal and sending him crashing to the dirt.
“Julian!” Mara screamed.
May you like
The world around them seemed to stop. The roaring wind died. The burning sky froze in place. Mara’s eyes turned completely pitch-black, ringed by a halo of liquid sapphire fire.
She turned slowly to face Cassian. The ground beneath the Grand Inquisitor’s boots turned to ash.
