Chapter Thirty-Two: Ash Crowned
"To wear a crown of fire is to bleed in silence—and burn for all who follow."
The Emperor did not scream.
He did not rage or curse the names of traitors.
He stood atop his obsidian throne in the Ember Keep, silent as the high council read out the rebellion's movements. As the reports confirmed the southern watchtowers were lost. As the bridge at Emberpass crumbled. As the name "Kael" returned to the halls he had once walked as prince.
Only when they were done did the Emperor speak.
"Let the bloodletters ride."
Riven felt it before they saw them.
The air thickened. The wind died. The scouts stopped reporting back.
At dusk, the first riders came.
Six of them. Clad in red and black lacquered armor, their eyes hidden behind masks shaped like wolves' jaws. They rode horses bred in the shadow stables—creatures born of flame and terror.
They did not speak.
They only slaughtered.
Kael met the first strike at the ridge. The rebels barely had time to brace.
One moment the dusk was still. The next, the Bloodletters tore into the vanguard, cutting down a dozen fighters before a single arrow could fly. Fast. Silent. Unstoppable.
Kael rushed into the chaos, his blade glowing with stolen fire. Riven at his side, teeth bared, the Heartflame rising in his chest like a second pulse.
It wasn't enough.
One of the Bloodletters—the tallest—locked blades with Kael, driving him back with a flurry of precise, brutal strikes. The mask fell during the fight.
Kael froze.
The man behind it was his cousin. General Theron. Thought dead.
"You should've stayed in the fire, Kael," he snarled.
Kael gritted his teeth. "I did. And it changed me."
Their blades met again.
The skirmish lasted minutes—but left behind carnage that would take days to bury.
The Bloodletters retreated, but only after leaving a message: this was the Emperor's mercy. Next time, there would be none.
That night, the camp was quiet.
Riven stitched Kael's arm with shaking fingers. "You knew him."
Kael didn't look up. "He trained me. We played war games as boys. He said I had no killer instinct."
"Do you?"
Kael's voice dropped. "I do now."
He stepped outside the tent after midnight.
Stared up at the moon.
It felt far away, like everything else once sacred.
Elan found him there. "The clans are shaken."
"I know."
"They need to see you stand. Even when you bleed."
Kael nodded. "Tomorrow, we move."
"Where?"
Kael looked south.
"To the City of Crowns."
Riven appeared behind him, silent as ever. His hand brushed Kael's.
"You're not alone," he whispered.
Kael exhaled. A breath like smoke.
"Then let the empire tremble."