Chapter 5: Embers Beneath Frost

Leia unrolled the charred scroll on her archive table, careful not to smear the melted wax.

“The survivors said the attackers wore crimson armbands,” she told Iris, who hovered nearby. “That’s Silas’s guard uniform. Not mine. Not my father’s.”

Iris frowned. “And yet your father was executed for it.”

“Because someone wanted him gone,” Leia snapped. “Someone who needed a scapegoat. And Silas—he was the one moving pieces before the fire started.”

“You think he’s still alive?”

“I think too many people accepted his death without asking questions.”

Iris leaned closer, voice quiet. “So what will you do now?”

Leia's answer was steel: “Find the truth. Expose it. Even if it burns this whole Keep down.”

---

Cassian dismounted, boots landing hard on the bloody stone of the mining outpost.

The rebellion had turned violent.

He passed rows of chained laborers—children among them. Wolves in ragged furs, bones visible under soot. His lieutenant waited nearby.