Chapter 30 - The Queen Who Stopped TimeEvery bell in the capital began ringing.
King Aldric raced down the battlements and ordered his soldiers to prepare the horses.
He wanted to meet his wife.
Sir Garran blocked his path.
"Your Majesty, that may not be the woman you remember."
Aldric shoved past him.
"I watched her disappear thirty years ago."
"And that's precisely why you should be afraid."
But Aldric was already descending toward the gates.
Ethan followed.
He needed answers more than he feared the approaching armies.
Outside the walls, Queen Eleanor stood alone between two lines of armored men.
When she saw Ethan, tears filled her eyes.
"My little boy."
Ethan stopped.
"Do you know me?"
She smiled sadly.
"I have known you across a thousand unfinished years."
King Aldric approached slowly.
"Eleanor?"
The queen looked at him.
Her smile disappeared.
"You weren't supposed to become king."
Aldric froze.
"What?"
"You were supposed to protect the child until the doorway closed."
The king shook his head.
"I don't understand."
Eleanor removed a small hourglass from her gown.
Inside, silver sand flowed upward.
"Thirty years ago, I made a bargain."
"With whom?"
"The man trapped between the centuries."
Ethan instinctively touched the black crown.
The queen noticed.
Her face became white.
"Where did you get that?"
"He showed it to me."
Eleanor seized Ethan's shoulders.
"Listen carefully. That crown doesn't belong to the first king."
"Then who does it belong to?"
She looked toward Rowan, who had appeared beside the gates.
"To the last."
Rowan suddenly turned away.
Too late.
The crown flashed.
The entire battlefield froze.
Horses stopped mid-stride.
Flags hung motionless.
Even falling dust remained suspended in the air.
Only Ethan, Eleanor, and Rowan could move.
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And Rowan was smiling.
"Finally," he whispered.
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