The air in the throne room feels thick—thicker than blood, heavier than stone. Every eye is locked on the two brothers at the center of the chamber, where a basin of molten silver glimmers like liquid starlight.

  I've never seen anything like it.

  Rael moves first, plunging his fingertips into the silver. The metal hisses, steam curling up in thick coils like breath from a dragon's maw. I flinch, my hand half-rising toward him, useless. But Rael doesn't make a sound--doesn't even wince.

  He straightens slowly, silver cooling across his claws like armor, his eyes locked on Edros.

  Edros follows, mirroring the ritual with practiced ease that turns my stomach. He looks like he's enjoying it. Like this is nothing.

  A game he's played for centuries.

  They stand across from each other, the weight of the entire kingdom pressing down on their shoulders. My heart pounds so hard it rattles my ribs. I want to scream for them to stop. I want to run. But I can't move.

  I hold my breath.

  Then they collide.

  Rael lunges and Edros meets him head-on. They slam into each other with the force of a thunderclap, claws raking, shoes skidding on the floor slick with blood and sweat.

  The sound is monstrous--claws slashing, fists crashing, growls echoing. The floor shakes beneath my feet. Marble cracks. Blood sprays across the stone.

  Blow after blow, they strike--each movement a blur, each impact reverberating through the hall.

  It's not a duel.

  It's annihilation.

  Rael's claws slash across Edros's shoulder—deep enough to bare bone. Edros snarls and backhands Rael so hard his head snaps to the side. Blood flies. Rael stumbles, but doesn't fall.

  He grins.

  "You're slowing," he growls, spitting red.

  "You're bleeding," Edros sneers, darting forward.

  Rael is fast, but Edros is a force—controlled, calculated, cruel. His strike cuts deep, spilling blood from Rael's ribs.

  Edros slams a knee into Rael's stomach--once, twice--then drives an elbow into his spine. Rael crashes to the ground, but rolls, grabs Edros by the leg, and yanks him off balance. They tumble together, snapping, striking, silver claws tearing flesh.

  Get up. I think. Please, get up.

  Edros gets the upper hand--pinning Rael, claws raised for the kill.

  "You remember her scream, don't you?" he says, low and cold.

  Rael freezes.

  Edros leans in, his voice venom-soft. "Mother. The moment she realized it was your sword buried in her heart. That you followed my order."

  Rael struggles, teeth bared.

  "She loved you," Edros whispers, his smile serpentine. "You were her favorite, even when you killed her."

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  A beat.

  And something in him breaks.

  He bucks upward, roars like a wild beast, and throws Edros across the floor. The impact cracks stone. Rael is on him before he can rise, fists crashing down over and over, blood spraying with every hit. Edros snarls and fights back, claws ripping down Rael's chest--but he doesn't stop. He doesn't even flinch.

  He's a beast unleashed. He's grief turned to rage.

  I don't recognize him.

  "You made me kill her!" He roars, driving Edros's head into the floor. "You made me!"

  Edros spits blood, trying to crawl away--but Rael grabs him by the back of the neck and lifts him like he weighs nothing. Eyes wild, face soaked in blood and tears.

  "Do it," Edros chokes out, teeth coated in crimson. "Kill me like you killed mo--"

  He can't finish it.

  Rael's claws plunge forward, straight into his brother's chest.

  Edros gasps, blood spilling from his mouth. Silver and red flood down his torso as his lips part. Maybe to speak. Maybe to curse, but nothing comes out.

  He sags.

  Rael lowers him slowly, gently, like laying down a child. He falls to his knees, and then... he starts pressing his hands over the wound, as if he can stop it. As if he can take it back.

  "I'm sorry," he chokes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry--"

  Edros blinks up at him. His last breath rattles like dry leaves.

  Then he goes still.

  Rael doesn't move.

  He stares at his bloodstained hands.

  At the brother he loved. At the king he once followed. At the only other person who knew what it meant to carry the weight of this kingdom.

  Edros's crown rolls across the blood-soaked floor, forgotten, as Rael kneels in silence, surrounded by ghosts.

  And when he finally looks up, his eyes find mine.

  Haunted.

  I can't move. Can't speak.

  He did this for me.

  And he almost lost himself doing it.

  Rael stands, shoulders rising and falling with each uneven breath. The room holds still--waiting. For judgment. For a crown. For blood to cool.

  But all I can see is him.

  And the fire still smoldering behind his eyes.

  The scent of blood hangs in the air like a curse. The shadows seem to press in closer. The silence stretches too long.

  Then he speaks.

  "You're free to go, if you wish."

  Just seven words. Soft. Gentle.

  Yet, they cut deeper than any blade.

  I don't look away. I can't. "That's... it?"

  "My brother is dead," Rael says, his voice quiet. Like he's trying to wake from a nightmare, but the nightmare is his reality. His voice cracks, and I want to reach out, to comfort him, but I can't.

  He looks at me then, his face a mixture of guilt and sorrow. "Your mother's debt is forgiven. You're free."

  The word 'free' hangs between us.

  I shake my head. "Free?" The word tastes bitter on my tongue. "After everything? After all the lies, the silence--you're giving me a choice now?"

  "Your whole life, others have chosen for you. Where to stand, what to say, who to be. This is the only thing I can give you--the right to choose for yourself."

  I feel the weight of every step I've taken, every choice I didn't make. Everything's been wrong. Everything's been twisted.

  "You should've let him kill me," I say, barely above a breath.

  He flinches as if I've struck him.

  "I mean it," I whisper, hollow. "None of this was real--everything between us was just another part of your plan... your mercy was wasted."

  I can see the way his hands twitch. His jaw clenches. I see the way he's breaking--bit by bit, and it shatters me, too. I don't want to hurt him. I don't want to push him away. But the doubt--it's there, crawling under my skin.

  "It wasn't all a lie," he says hoarsely. "I swear it. Not all of it."

  I want to believe him. I do. But I don't know how. "But how do I tell the difference?" I ask, quietly. "When did it stop being strategy and start being... this?"

  His eyes fall to the floor, and I know he doesn't have an answer. Maybe he doesn't even know. Maybe the line blurred for him, too.

  "You said I could choose," I murmur, almost to myself. "So let me."

  Rael stands there, and I see the heartbreak in his eyes, his struggle. But he nods, slow, resigned.

  I turn away, step by step, my feet feeling like they weigh a thousand pounds. Every movement feels heavier than the last. The weight of what's happened. The weight of what he's done. The weight of the choices I've been forced to make.

  I don't look back.

  But then I hear his voice.

  "Do you remember what I told you in the forest?"

  My breath hitches. I stop, but I don't turn. I can't.

  "That wishes are for fools who still have something left to hope for," his voice cracks, the weight of it settling in the silence. "I never had one... until now."

  I close my eyes, a shudder running through me at the weight of those words. "Then you really are a fool."

  "I know."

  There's nothing left to say. I don't even know what I feel anymore. It's a blur--guilt, confusion, heartbreak. I want to run. I want to scream at him. I want to scream at myself for ever thinking we could escape this.

  But he doesn't stop me. He doesn't call me back.

  And yet, he doesn't take it back either.

  And that--gods help me--that's the part that hurts the most.