Chapter 103

The air in Aeliana's study was thick with silence, a silence that pressed in from all sides, making her breath feel too loud, too sharp in the stillness. The grand windows cast golden light across the stone floors, but the warmth of the afternoon sun did little to ease the cold creeping into her bones.

She should have felt safe here. This was her space, a place where she had pored over laws, policies, military strategies, and trade agreements. This was where she ruled, where she built a future for the empire.

But today, as she crossed the threshold of her study, her instincts screamed at her.

Something was wrong.

Aeliana stopped in the doorway, her gaze sweeping the room, cataloging every detail. The bookshelves remained undisturbed. The parchments on her desk were still neatly stacked, her ink bottle and quill sitting where she had left them the night before.

And yet something had changed.

Then she saw it.

A single piece of parchment, lying atop her documents.

Aeliana's breath stilled.

It was positioned too perfectly, placed as if it belonged there.

But it didn't.

Her pulse slowed, then quickened.

Carefully, she stepped forward, her fingers tightening as she reached for the note, unfolding the crisp paper with deliberate movements.

Her eyes traced the words.

You should have never let her be born.

The world blurred around her.

For a heartbeat, all she saw were the words.

The ink was dark, each letter written with the same precise, deliberate hand as the note she had found weeks ago.

The one left in Seraphina's cradle.

Aeliana's blood ran cold.

This wasn't a warning.

It was a promise.

They were coming.

For Seraphina.

For her.

For all of them.

The rage came first-hot, unrelenting, violent.

Then the ice.

The cold calculation of a woman who had learned how to survive, who had been shaped by a world that had never been kind to her.

Aeliana folded the letter, her hands steady, her breath controlled.

Then she turned and left the room.

Tharx was in the war chamber when she found him.

He stood before the massive carved map of the empire, his hands braced against the table's edge, his golden eyes tracking the territories. He had been deep in thought, strategizing, preparing.

But the moment she stepped into the room, he knew.

His gaze snapped to her, sharp and assessing.

"You found something," he said.

Aeliana didn't speak.

She crossed the room, extended the letter.

Tharx took it from her.

His expression was unreadable as he unfolded the parchment, his eyes scanning the words.

The moment he finished, the air changed.

A quiet, suffocating sort of violence settled over him.

He did not move.

Did not speak.

But Aeliana felt it.

The moment before a storm breaks.

The moment before someone dies.

Tharx's fingers curled around the edges of the parchment.

"Who?" His voice was dangerously low.

Aeliana exhaled through her nose, keeping her own voice even. "Whoever it is, they're still in the shadows. Watching. Waiting."

Tharx tore the letter in half.

Then in half again.

Then again.

Until the words were nothing but shredded pieces in his hands.

His breathing remained steady, but Aeliana saw the truth in his eyes.

They had crossed a line.

And Tharx was going to make them bleed for it.

She did not stop him as he turned toward the grand hearth in the corner of the chamber.

With a flick of his wrist, he threw the scraps into the flames.

The fire devoured the parchment instantly, the inked words curling, blackening, disappearing into ash.

Aeliana watched the flames flicker, the heat warming her skin.

"We are past the point of waiting," she murmured.

Tharx's jaw tensed. "There will be no waiting."

She turned to him fully. "Then what?"

Tharx looked at her, his golden eyes burning like molten fire.

"We prepare for war."

Aeliana nodded once.

Because there was no other choice.

The game was over.

Now, it was time to end this.

They did not speak for a long moment.

The only sound in the chamber was the crackling of the fire, the distant murmur of voices from the halls outside.

Then, finally, Tharx moved.

He stepped toward the table, his fingers tracing the carved map of the empire.

"We need names," he said. "Not just suspects. Not just shadows. We need the names of those responsible."

Aeliana nodded, her mind already working. "Vaelkor has been compiling a list of individuals who have vanished from the palace. Servants, guards, even some nobles who have distanced themselves. I will have him bring it to us."

Tharx's lips curled in a cold, merciless smile. "Good. We start there."

Aeliana hesitated, then added, "We also need to think about what they will do next. The first note they left-it was hidden in Seraphina's cradle. This one?" She gestured to the ashes. "It was meant for me to find. They wanted me to read it."

Tharx exhaled sharply. "They wanted to remind us that they are watching."

Aeliana's fingers curled into a fist. "Then we watch back."

That night, Aeliana could not sleep.

She sat in Seraphina's nursery, rocking her daughter in slow, measured movements. The fire was dim, casting soft golden light across the stone walls.

The baby stirred slightly in her sleep, her tiny fingers curling against Aeliana's arm.

Aeliana smoothed her hand over Seraphina's soft curls, her touch gentle, but her mind racing.

She had been right.

Something was coming.

And now, they had confirmed it.

Footsteps approached from behind.

She didn't turn. She knew who it was.

Tharx stepped beside her, his gaze dropping to their daughter.

He didn't speak at first. Just stood there, watching, his presence as steady and unshakable as ever.

Finally, he murmured, "I will not let them take her."

Aeliana exhaled, tightening her grip on Seraphina. "I know."

Tharx turned his head toward her, his golden eyes dark with something dangerous.

"They will not live long enough to try."

Aeliana finally looked up at him. "Then we start tomorrow."

Tharx nodded once.

Tomorrow, they would stop waiting.

Tomorrow, the war would begin.