Chapter 43- A Forgotten King Falls

The entire castle was blanketed in calm.

Not the eerie kind, the earned kind. The kind that came after too many days of triumph, love, survival, and laughter. Everyone had passed out wherever they could after the feast, bellies full, bonds glowing, and hopes high.

Morning came with soft light and the scent of buttery biscuits and charred bacon. But not everyone was eager to rise.

Rhiannan groaned as she tried to sit up.

"No. Nope. I live here now," she muttered, lying flat again. Her massive belly shifted, and one of the triplets kicked so hard her entire stomach jumped.

Her three royal nannies and ladies in waiting, Lady Kaelith of the Bloomspire, Sereth the Time Witch, and Brimma "Boom Boom" Thornhex, hovered around her like protective hawks.

"You're glowing," said Lady Kaelith, brushing Rhiannan's tangled curls, her shimmering mood tattoos shifting to a warm green.

"Time's getting tight," murmured Sereth, eyes glowing faintly as she glanced at the shifting sands in her palm sized hourglass.

"You might pop during breakfast," Brimma said, holding a magically warming bottle of cinnamon milk in one hand and a small detonator baby toy in the other.

"Y'all. I'm fine. I'm just the size of a small moon," Rhiannan snapped. "You better let me eat before these babies declare war."

Breakfast was a royal spread as always. Creamy scrambled eggs, honey-dipped fruits, piles of pastries, cinnamon rolls the size of Liam's ego, and crepes drizzled with lavender syrup. Rhiannan sat sideways in Azarion's lap, gobbling pickles dipped in jam and glaring at anyone who dared comment.

Thorne entered the dining hall flanked by his mates like some gothic royal.

Lerenya wore a clingy teal gown and a soft smile, her hand twined in Thorne's. Masaila stalked beside them in barely clothed leathers, eyes scanning for danger like a feral queen.

Liam whooped. "Look at this bloodthirsty bastard glowing. I'd say you look well fucked, but that's redundant."

Thorne smirked. "I am well fucked. Multiple times. And I recommend it."

Chairs scraped, laughter rolled, and the group devoured breakfast before heading out.

Reyna and her council were on fire. They'd narrowed down the Noble Trial applicants to one hundred standouts. The selected few would live in the newly constructed noble quarters, nestled beside the forest, where they'd prep for the trials. Sasha announced the list on FaeNet, and congratulations exploded across the network.

Meanwhile, Kaleb and Arwen were already at the trial grounds preparing for day three of the Valor Trials. Weapons checked. Barriers pulsing. Shadow wards humming low.

Sable was stalking the sky perimeter, eyes glowing red as he flew wide arcs with Elisha.

"Too quiet," Sable muttered. "He's waiting. Watching."

Elisha flared his wings. "Let him. When he strikes, he'll regret it."

Back on the ground, Azarion carried Rhiannan like she was made of starlight and rage. He settled her gently into a velvet cushioned observation platform while him and her three sentinels stood guard.

She growled. "If any of you try to tell me I'm glowing again, I will rip out your soul through your fucking ears."

FaeNet was already losing its collective mind.

Trial Day Three was about to begin.

Far below the castle, in the ashen remnants of a once great fortress, the Forgotten King clawed his way upright. Magic flickered in his veins, unstable, burning, and barely there.

He was dying.

Poison threaded through his insides like wildfire, slow and corrosive. Lorelei, the Bone Seer, stood above him with a twisted smile, her bone white hair floating like a halo of rot.

"I thought you were untouchable," she hissed, voice full of venom and victory. "Turns out you're nothing but dirt under my feet."

She watched with cruel delight as he coughed blood and slumped forward, his once mighty aura dimming like a dying star.

But the Forgotten King, with his last scraps of power, raised a trembling hand and shot a tendril of shadow straight into her chest.

Lorelei screamed and dropped to her knees. The darkness vanished into her like smoke into lungs. Then silence.

She stood again. Blinking. Shaking it off. Thinking she had simply withstood his final curse.

She was wrong.

Above the world, in the divine clouds of the Eternal Watch, Goddess Nythera stood with fire in her eyes.

"So the king has fallen," she said, her voice rippling across stars. "But something worse rises in his place."

She sent the vision like a lightning strike to her Oracle, Reyna.

The Forgotten King is no more. Beware the Bone Queen.