Chapter 6 - THE KNIGHT WHO TRIED TO KILL HIS OWN PRINCE
Aldric attacked without warning.
His blackened sword struck Kael’s blade with such force that the Prince fell against the stone table.
Ancient books scattered across the floor.
Kael barely managed to raise his weapon before the next strike came.
“Aldric, stop!”
The commander said nothing.
His eyes burned violet.
Behind him, the six royal executioners advanced toward Elara.
She stumbled backward, raising her glowing hand.
Golden energy flashed across her fingers.
One executioner was hurled against the wall.
Another lost his sword when the weapon suddenly became too hot to hold.
But Elara’s magic was wild.
Each time she released it, the power struck everything around her.
A beam of golden light shattered the shelves behind Theron.
The scholar fell to the floor.
“Elara!” he shouted. “Focus on what you want to protect!”
She looked toward him.
A soldier raised his axe.
Without thinking, she threw herself between them.
A translucent golden shield appeared.
The axe struck it and broke apart.
Elara stared in astonishment.
She hadn’t imagined an explosion.
She had imagined Theron surviving.
And the magic had answered.
Across the chamber, Kael struggled beneath Aldric’s relentless attacks.
The commander had trained him since childhood.
Kael knew his fighting style, but Aldric knew every weakness in the Prince’s defense.
One violent strike knocked Kael’s sword away.
Aldric raised his blade.
“Forgive me, Your Highness.”
For one heartbeat, his eyes returned to normal.
Tears slipped down his cheeks.
Then the violet light returned.
His sword descended.
Elara screamed.
“NO!”
Golden light wrapped around the blade, freezing it inches from Kael’s throat.
Aldric struggled.
His entire body shook.
Theron staggered to his feet.
“The Shadow Crown is controlling him!”
He raised his staff and began reciting an ancient spell.
Silver chains emerged from the floor and wrapped around the commander.
Aldric roared.
Black smoke poured from beneath his armor.
Elara held the sword suspended while Theron stepped closer.
“Remember your oath, Aldric!”
The commander’s expression twisted.
“I… cannot…”
“You swore to protect the people of Aurelith, not the ambitions of its rulers!”
Aldric screamed.
The black smoke rose from his body, forming a distorted human face.
It turned toward Elara.
You belong to the Crown.
Elara felt the ancient presence reach into her mind.
Images flashed before her.
A black throne.
A kingdom covered in ash.
Her own face beneath a crown of twisted iron.
She recoiled.
“I belong to no one!”
The golden shield exploded outward.
The shadow creature dissolved.
Aldric collapsed.
Kael immediately rushed to his side.
“Aldric!”
The commander opened his eyes.
He looked at the broken swords scattered across the floor.
Then toward the Prince.
“What have I done?”
Kael gripped his shoulder.
“You fought it.”
Aldric began shaking.
“I remember everything. The orders. The executions. The people I couldn’t save.”
Theron knelt beside him.
“The Queen used the Shadow Crown to bind your will.”
Aldric closed his eyes.
“Not every evil thing I did was against my will.”
The confession silenced the chamber.
He looked toward Elara.
“I obeyed orders that I knew were wrong. Long before Malrec entered my mind.”
Elara remembered Mira’s name in the execution ledger.
She wanted to hate the commander.
Perhaps part of her always would.
But she also remembered what had just happened.
Aldric had briefly broken the curse to warn Kael.
And he had admitted his guilt without demanding forgiveness.
“Then help us stop it,” she said.
Aldric looked up.
“Why would you trust me?”
“I don’t.”
She extended her hand.
“But you can decide what kind of man you’ll be from this moment onward.”
Aldric slowly accepted it.
The chamber shook again.
Theron looked toward the ceiling.
“The prison is opening.”
He led them toward the aqueduct.
Behind them, the ruined archive collapsed.
And miles beneath the palace, a creature chained in darkness opened one enormous eye.
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The Devourer had heard Elara’s refusal.
For the first time in centuries, it knew the last heir was alive.
