Chapter 107
The name came at dawn.
Aeliana had spent the night in the nursery, unwilling to let Seraphina out of her sight, even as exhaustion pressed heavily against her body. The candle beside the crib had burned down to its last inch of wax, the scent of smoldering wick filling the air as she sat in the large chair beside her daughter's bed, watching. Waiting.
She barely noticed when the door opened.
Vaelkor entered the room with measured steps, his expression composed, but Aeliana knew him too well.
She saw the tension in his shoulders, the way he hesitated just slightly before speaking.
She stood immediately.
"You have something," she said.
Vaelkor nodded, his voice low, careful. "We found them."
Aeliana's heartbeat quickened.
She exhaled sharply, steeling herself. "Who?"
Vaelkor extended a parchment, but Aeliana did not take it. She didn't need to read the name.
She needed to hear it.
Vaelkor hesitated.
Then, finally, he spoke the words that would change everything.
"House Drevan."
The name slammed into her like a blade to the gut.
Aeliana's hands curled into fists.
House Drevan.
An old, powerful noble family, one of the longest-standing bloodlines in the empire. They had always been political survivors-neither outspokenly loyal nor openly rebellious. They thrived in neutrality.
But now?
Now, they had made their move.
Aeliana's mind raced. Lord Drevan had once sought the throne.
Long before Tharx, long before the empire had belonged to him, Drevan had whispered of a different future, one where he ruled.
But Tharx had crushed those ambitions when he took the empire.
Or so they had thought.
Clearly, Drevan had been waiting.
Waiting for the right moment.
Waiting for Seraphina's birth.
Waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Aeliana exhaled, her voice quiet but sharp as steel.
"Where is he now?"
Vaelkor's lips pressed into a thin line.
"We don't know," he admitted. "He hasn't been seen in three days."
Aeliana's stomach twisted.
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
She found Tharx in the war chamber.
He had been reviewing security reports, speaking with his generals, issuing new orders to tighten the palace lockdown.
The moment she entered, he knew.
He didn't ask.
He didn't need to.
She stepped toward him, holding his gaze.
"House Drevan," she said.
Something dangerous flickered in Tharx's golden eyes.
A beat of silence.
Then he repeated the name, slowly, deliberately.
"Drevan."
Aeliana nodded. "Vaelkor confirmed it. They've been moving against us in secret. The poisoning, the threats-it was all them."
Tharx's expression didn't change.
But the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
The generals exchanged uneasy glances, sensing the shift in their emperor.
Aeliana could feel it too-the weight of his fury, tightly coiled beneath his skin.
"Where is he?" Tharx asked, his voice low. Controlled.
Aeliana exhaled. "That's the problem. He's missing."
Tharx went very still.
"Missing," he repeated.
Aeliana nodded. "No one has seen him in days. No servants, no guards, not even his own household. He's gone."
Tharx's jaw tensed.
Aeliana stepped closer.
"You know what this means," she murmured.
Tharx met her gaze, unreadable.
Aeliana didn't blink.
"It means we're already too late."
House Drevan's estate was silent.
Too silent.
Tharx and Aeliana stood at the entrance of the grand, sprawling estate, surrounded by a full battalion of guards.
The gates had been unlocked.
The doors had been left open.
And yet-no one came to greet them.
Aeliana's pulse thumped in her ears.
Something was very wrong.
Tharx stepped forward, hand resting on the hilt of his blade. His golden eyes scanned the empty courtyard.
"Spread out," he ordered. "Search the grounds."
The guards moved instantly.
Aeliana followed Tharx inside, her own fingers wrapped tightly around the dagger at her hip.
The estate was eerily quiet.
No servants.
No staff.
Nothing.
Just the echo of their footsteps against the marble floors.
Aeliana felt it before she saw it.
The heavy weight of something wrong.
Then-the scent.
Coppery. Thick.
Blood.
Aeliana stopped short.
Tharx did too.
Then they turned the corner-
And saw the bodies.
The entire household was dead.
Every servant. Every guard. Every noble under Drevan's command.
Slaughtered.
The grand dining hall had been transformed into a grave.
Bodies lay sprawled across the polished floor. Some had been slain where they stood. Others had fallen trying to run.
And at the head of the table-
Lord Drevan himself.
His body was slumped over the dining chair, his throat slashed open.
Aeliana stared.
This was not the work of a single assassin.
This was not rebellion.
This was a mass execution.
And whoever had done this had not done it in haste.
They had made a statement.
Aeliana's breath was steady, but her mind raced.
"Someone got to him first," she said.
Tharx's golden eyes burned.
"Someone wanted to make sure we never questioned him," he murmured.
Aeliana nodded slowly.
Drevan had been a threat.
Now, he was a warning.
She exhaled. "Whoever did this-they didn't want him alive to talk."
Tharx's jaw tensed. "They cleaned up their own mess."
Aeliana took a step closer, eyes scanning the room.
The killings had been brutal, but precise.
No wasted movements. No unnecessary destruction.
Whoever had done this had been sending a message.
Aeliana's stomach twisted.
"This wasn't revenge," she murmured. "It was silence."
Tharx was silent for a long moment.
Then, finally, he turned to her.
"This isn't over," he said.
Aeliana nodded. "No," she agreed. "It's just beginning."
The bodies were burned that night.
Aeliana and Tharx stood in silence as the flames devoured House Drevan.
The nobles had wanted to know what happened.
Aeliana had let them watch.
She had let them see the consequences of treason.
But she and Tharx both knew the truth.
This had not been their victory.
Someone else had already won this round.
Someone had killed Drevan before they could.
And that meant the true enemy was still out there.
Watching.
Waiting.
And planning their next move.