Chapter Thirty-Three: Siege of the Crowned City
"The empire was not made of stone—it was made of silence, stitched together by fear. And now the silence breaks."
They reached the outer walls of the City of Crowns by dawn.
No birds sang.
No wind moved.
Only the great black towers of the imperial capital rising from the earth like the bones of some ancient god.
Riven stared in silence. This was where it began. This was where it would end.
Kael stood beside him, face carved in cold determination. He did not wear a crown. He did not wear gold. But the way people looked at him—like a sun before it burns the sky—it was clear who they followed.
The city guards had already sealed the gates.
But Kael never planned to knock.
Tunnels, whispered Riven.
From his time in the palace, he remembered them—the old aqueducts sealed off after the last plague. The lower catacombs beneath the court of judgment. Forgotten paths that led from filth to the heart of power.
That night, under the cloak of darkness, the vanguard slipped in.
Riven led the way. His Heartflame flickered low in his chest, carefully smothered so they wouldn't be seen. Elan followed with a dagger and three teeth stolen from a noble's jaw. Maedra came behind them, carrying war in her silence.
Kael was the last to enter.
Not out of fear.
But to make sure they would all come out again.
They emerged inside the eastern district just before dawn.
The slums.
It was here the rebellion truly began.
People didn't cry out when they saw the cloaked figures with blades and banners. They didn't scream when Kael walked through the fog.
They knelt.
"Rise," he told them.
They did—and they followed.
By midday, fires burned in five districts.
By sunset, the rebellion had seized the granaries, the lower armory, and the eastern barracks.
The imperial flag still flew above the obsidian palace—but now it looked out over flames.
Kael stood at the barricades, blade drawn, eyes never blinking.
Riven stood beside him.
"You ready?" he asked.
Kael's voice was calm. "I've been ready since the day I bled in chains."
Inside the palace, the Emperor watched from his black throne.
He did not send his guards.
He did not send his generals.
He sent her.
Kael knew something was wrong when the wind shifted.
He smelled sulfur. Heard laughter.
And then she appeared.
Tall. Clad in armor of crimson and bone. Hair silver as steel wire, falling down her back like a blade. Her eyes burned.
The Witch of the First Flame.
The Emperor's executioner.
"Kael," she sang. "Your father screamed like a child when I burned him. Want to know what you'll sound like?"
Riven's fingers laced with Kael's.
Kael stepped forward. "Let's find out."
End of Chapter 33
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