At their head stood General Heinrich, the veteran commander who had guarded the empty throne for three long decades. As Ethan stepped off the carriage, holding Lily in one arm and my hand in the other, the old general fell to one knee, driving his ceremonial broadsword into the granite platform.

“The bloodline has returned,” Heinrich’s voice echoed like thunder through the cavern. “Command us, Your Majesty!”

Chap 36

The wind howled through the granite spires of the Royal Citadel, driving sheets of frozen sleet against the ancient battlements. From the central observation tower, I watched the outer perimeter through high-powered infrared monitors, my heart in my throat.

Lily was safe two levels below, tucked into a velvet-draped bedchamber guarded by four elite royal sentries. But I refused to leave Ethan’s side.

I had stood by him when we had nothing—when we counted pennies at the kitchen table while Patricia sat in the parlor belittling my clothes, my cooking, and my ancestry. I would stand by him now as Queen.

“They’ve breached the lower gates of the valley airstrip,” General Heinrich reported, tapping the tactical map. “Vane has forty surviving syndicate operators. They are using three armored personnel carriers to advance up the serpentine mountain road. But look here, Sire.”

Heinrich zoomed in on the lead vehicle.

Strapped to the front grille of the lead armored truck, bound in heavy chains and shivering uncontrollably in the sub-zero blizzard, was Patricia Vance.

Her fur coat was shredded, her hair frozen into brittle icicles, her face twisted in agonizing, terrified sobs. She was being used as a literal human shield.



“Monsters,” I gasped, clapping a hand over my mouth. “Ethan… they’ll kill her before they even reach the courtyard!”

Ethan leaned over the tactical display, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. There was no hatred in his face, nor was there pity. There was only the calculated clarity of a Sovereign defending his family and his people.

“She made a pact with wolves,” Ethan said quietly. “And now she learns that wolves eat whoever is closest.”

“Ethan… will you shoot?” I asked, trembling slightly as I looked at the man I loved.

Ethan turned to me, his hand reaching out to gently clasp my fingers. “I will not murder my mother, Clara. But I will not let her destroy our child’s future, either. Heinrich, disable the lead truck’s axle using the localized electromagnetic pulse mine at Switchback Four.

Do not detonate high explosives.”

“Understood, Sire. EMP trap armed.”

Outside, the heavy roar of diesel engines echoed off the mountain walls as the syndicate convoy crested the ridge. Patricia’s screams could be heard faintly over the howling wind as the truck barreled toward the narrow mountain bridge leading to the Citadel’s main gatehouse.

“Now,” Ethan ordered.

Chap 37

The impact broke the chains holding Patricia to the bumper. She was thrown onto the snow-covered asphalt, rolling violently until she crashed against the stone bridge railing, gasping and weeping in the freezing blizzard.

Behind the disabled lead carrier, the two remaining syndicate trucks screeched to a halt. The doors flew open, and three dozen heavily armed mercenaries spilled out, opening suppressive fire on the Citadel’s outer battlements.

“Sniper team, suppress the flanks!” General Heinrich barked over the tactical radio.

“Deploy tear gas canisters along the bridge!”

“No,” Ethan commanded, picking up an assault carbine from the weapons rack and adjusting his tactical harness over his royal dress shirt. “The bridge is too narrow for a firefight. If they ignite the bridge’s structural cables with heavy ordnance, the entire northern wing could destabilize. Alistair, cover the parapet. I am going down.”

“Ethan, please!” I cried, grabbing his arm, terror seizing my chest. “You don’t have to fight them yourself!”

Ethan stopped, turning to look into my eyes. His gaze was softer now, full of an unbreakable devotion that had sustained our marriage through every humiliation his mother had inflicted upon us.

“Clara,” he whispered, kissing my lips with fierce urgency. “For seven years, I let my mother treat you like a second-class citizen in my own home because I foolishly believed peace was worth the sacrifice of my pride. But peace bought with cowardice is no peace at all. I promised you on Christmas night that you and Lily would never have to bow your heads again. Let me finish this.”

Before I could reply, he broke into a sprint down the spiral staircase, accompanied by twenty elite Royal Guards in thermal tactical gear.

On the bridge below, the battle was absolute chaos.

Commander Vane dragged Patricia up by her collar, using her as a barrier while his men fired bursts of automatic fire toward the gatehouse. “Vance! Come out and open the vault, or I blow her head off right here on your threshold!”

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