Chapter 9 - The Rebellion of the Vipers
Word of Vane’s arrest spread through the kingdom like wildfire.
For two days, tension gripped Edhard Castle by the throat. Sympathizers of Vane’s faction—wealthy merchant lords, corrupt elders, and aristocratic families who had grown fat on stolen wealth—realized their time was up. Driven by cornered desperation, they made a fatal miscalculation.
They decided to launch a coup.
It happened on the third night.
A coordinated band of rogue mercenaries and bribed castle guards breached the inner bailey, setting fire to the western storage towers to create a diversion. Shouts, clashing steel, and the terrifying howls of rogue wolves echoed through the freezing night air.
Inside the royal bedchambers, the heavy oak doors splintered inward with a deafening crash.
Three armed assassins clad in black leather armor lunged into the room, their broadswords gleaming with poisoned edges.
Hiana rolled out of bed with instantaneous reflexes born of years of surviving kitchen ambushes and cruel beatings. She grabbed a heavy silver candlestick holder from the bedside table just as the first assassin lunged toward her.
With a fierce cry, she swung the heavy silver base square into the assassin’s jaw, sending him staggering backward with a shattered nose.
The second assassin spun toward her, raising his blade—only for a massive, terrifying shadow to drop from the ceiling like a falling meteor.
Aiden.
He didn't even use a weapon. His bare hands caught the assassin by the throat and chest armor, lifting the full-grown man effortlessly off his feet before slamming him down onto the stone floor with a bone-shattering crash that cracked the flags.
The third assassin panicked, turning to run, but Aiden’s hand shot out, grabbing him by the collar and hurling him violently across the room into the stone wall where he crumpled unconscious.
Silence descended upon the bedchamber once more, broken only by the crackle of distant fire and the heavy breathing of the king.
Aiden turned to Hiana, his eyes sweeping over her to ensure she wasn't harmed. "Are you alright?"
"I told you," Hiana said, her chest heaving as she lowered the dented silver candlestick, a fierce, triumphant smile touching her lips. "I know how to fight back."
Aiden let out a low, deep chuckle—a sound of pure, unfiltered adoration and pride. He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair.
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"Let's finish this," Aiden whispered against her ear.
Hand in hand, the Alpha King and his scarred queen walked out into the corridors of Edhard Castle to put down the rebellion once and for all.
