Chapter 37: The Queen’s Vow, the Duke’s Sword, and the Prince Who Smiled No More(Let the war begin)
The halls of Valenhart were different now.
Tension clung to the marble like dust after a funeral.
Whispers folded beneath tapestries.
The nobles moved carefully—too carefully.
Because everyone had seen it.
The vote.
The betrayal.
The kiss.
The queen's final word to the prince who used to dance.
---
Elara sat in the war chamber.
The seat at the head of the table no longer felt cold.
Cladus stood beside her—not as a knight, but as Duke Rhain, lord of armies and quiet wrath.
"The southern lords waver," he reported. "They sense blood. They want to know who leads."
Elara lifted her chin.
"Tell them the Queen leads." "And her sword follows."
Cladus didn't bow.
He didn't need to.
He simply answered:
"As you command."
---
Meanwhile, a letter arrived in the hands of Serina.
Black wax.
No seal.
Just a single line, inked in gold:
The jester is dead.
Send in the monster.
She burned it without blinking.
"He's ready," she told Maelric.
"And broken," Maelric murmured, swirling wine. "Exactly how I prefer my princes."
---
But Auren was no longer in the palace.
He sat alone in the ruins of an old theatre in the eastern quarter—
The stage cracked. The seats burned.
He laughed once. Then stopped.
And finally said:
"Enough."
Gone was the flamboyance.
The charm.
The grin that made courtiers nervous and queens lean in too close.
In its place?
Stillness.
Steel.
Strategy.
---
Auren stood.
A scroll in one hand. A blade in the other.
"They wanted a fool."
"Now let them fear the heir."
He slipped on his gloves.
And behind him, a small voice spoke—
"You're really going back?"
Auren didn't turn.
"I'm not going back," he said. "I'm going to war."
---
And back at the council chambers—
Elara stared down at the war map.
Enemies surrounded them.
Serina.
Maelric.
The Empress.
And gods knew what shadows still moved behind Auren's fractured loyalty.
"We need leverage," she said to Cladus. "We need to strike first."
"Then we ride to Rhain," Cladus said. "Where your allies await."
"And your secrets," she murmured.
He looked at her.
And for once—he didn't deny it.