The Price of Loyalty

The dawn that broke across the battlefield was a fragile golden light struggling to push back the storm. Lucien's army surged forward, their banners of flame and sun unfurling like hope reborn. But Seraphine did not retreat. She stood tall, her silver hair whipping in the wind, her eyes locked on Lucien as if she saw through the years, through flesh, into the very soul that defied her.

Cambria's heart thundered. Her father was alive. And not just alive leading. A force of exiles, of warriors once thought lost to Seraphine's purge. Knights who had vanished in the night. Soldiers who had vanished into the earth. The forgotten, returned.

But Lucien's gaze was not on Seraphine first. It found Cambria, and in his eyes was sorrow. Regret. Love. Pride.

"My daughter," he called across the distance, voice steady as stone. "I was a fool to leave you alone in this war. But no more."