CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 62 – A FRACTURED THRONE

Recap: Chapter 61 (The Monster’s Prayer)

The tide of power shifted violently.

After the sacred union between Kai and Lyra—sealed not with mere vows but with a bloodbound pact older than the gods—the Council of Thale began to splinter. Allies became suspicious. Enemies grew bold. While some hailed them as the destined pair, chosen to lead the fractured realm into a new age, others saw only the birth of tyranny.

Astra, shaken by visions laced in flame and betrayal, risked forbidden magic to unlock an ancient prophecy buried deep within the Starlit Codex. Her act summoned a divine relic long lost to history: the Monster’s Prayer, a dagger of obsidian memory, capable of turning divine power against its wielder.

Velis—ever elusive—cast long shadows through broken mirrors. Though unseen, her influence surged, twisting truths, manipulating fates, and poisoning trust. Her magic whispered to the weak-willed, feeding doubt and amplifying cracks in every alliance.

As Kai faced the gathered Council, pressure mounted. Loyalties were questioned. Past sins unearthed. And when Yuri finally revealed the hidden cost of their blood pact, even Kai—Godmarked and soulbound—realized that the war was no longer on battlefields.

It had begun in hearts, in halls, in every glance sharpened by secrets.

Now, with the arrival of a new envoy bearing Iraleth’s war sigil, the kingdom teeters on the edge.

And Kai must choose: throne or soul, loyalty or survival.

Main story

I. Broken Oaths

Silence spread like frost through the council chamber.

Kai’s boots echoed on the obsidian floor as he walked past the high seats—symbols of unity now tarnished by suspicion. The councilors’ eyes darted between him and Lyra, who stood tall at his side, the bondmark on her collarbone still faintly glowing from their soul-bond.

"Order has become a rumor," said Lord Thren, folding his ancient fingers. "We feared the prophecy. Now it walks among us with a crown and a sword."

Kai’s gaze did not waver. "I never asked for the crown. Only the right to choose my path."

Astra stood behind him, eyes veiled by silver lashes, voice low. "But choices in power are illusions. They give the people hope. And hope can kill just as easily as fear."

Lord Nareth leaned forward, the shadows beneath his eyes heavy with implication. "Then perhaps the people need to learn fear again."

Lyra’s hand moved to her blade.

"No," Kai said, raising his hand. "We don’t silence them. We remind them who we are."

The air crackled. A glyph on the stone table blinked red—a silent signal: someone had breached the outer palace.

II. The Vault of Oaths

Later, Kai walked alone beneath the palace into the ancient Vault of Oaths. Its vast hallway stretched on forever, walls carved with names lost to time—oaths kept, broken, and cursed.

He passed the wall of betrayals. Velis’ name wasn’t etched there. She had never officially sworn loyalty to the throne.

He stopped before Lyra’s ancestral tablet. The snake-dagger crest gleamed dimly.

A whisper rose from the stones.

"Will you be the first to break her heart? Or the last to hold her loyalty?"

He brushed his fingers across the carving.

"I’m not afraid to love her," he whispered. "But I am afraid... of what that love might cost this realm."

Behind him, Lyra approached, quiet as a memory.

"You won’t lose me," she said.

"But I might lose myself," Kai replied.

She reached out. "Then let me help you remember who you are."

They stood there, hands clasped, as the wall trembled beneath some old enchantment... or some newer truth.

III. Astra’s Vision

In the cathedral of Falling Star, Astra stood before a pool of mirrored water blessed by the First Oracle. Her reflection fractured, revealing eight faces—eight futures.

In one, she saw Kai on a burning throne.

In another, she saw herself stabbing him.

In a third... she saw no Kai at all.

The mirror cracked.

Her eyes narrowed. She dropped to her knees, chanting in the ancient tongue, her soul unraveling strand by strand into prophetic threads. The glyph on her skin—the Divergent Path—glowed red-hot.

"I can’t save him... and stay beside him," she realized aloud.

But leaving might mean the very fall she hoped to prevent.

Then Velis’ reflection appeared, unbidden. Not a vision.

A smile curled on the illusion’s lips. "You’ll make a beautiful betrayer, sister of stars."

Astra screamed, and the vision shattered.

IV. Yuri’s Revelation

Kai found Yuri in the Garden of Lanterns, where eternal flames danced inside hanging orbs suspended by invisible cords.

"You used blood magic," Kai said, stepping onto the sacred moss.

Yuri turned, his hood down. "I used what you wouldn’t. That’s why I can do what you fear."

"And what is that?" Kai asked, gripping his hilt.

"Win."

There was silence.

Yuri stepped forward. "You think this is about you versus fate. It’s not. It’s you versus Velis, Astra, Lyra, me. Everyone who claims they serve you... but who actually serve themselves."

"And you?" Kai asked.

Yuri’s voice dropped. "I serve the outcome. Whatever it takes to keep the realm from falling into ash."

Kai clenched his jaw. "And if I become the ash?"

"Then I’ll be the wind that scatters you."

It was not hatred. It was faith, twisted.

V. The Envoy Arrives

Horn blasts rang out.

Kai raced to the eastern balcony overlooking the causeway to the palace. A lone rider in black approached beneath Iraleth’s war-banner. Their armor bore crimson trim, and behind them, a host of shadows waited.

The rider removed their helmet.

It was a woman—eyes violet, hair jet black, a scar across her lips.

"Kai Varyn," she shouted. "You wear the crown that rightfully belongs to the House of Dusk. By Iraleth’s blood and sovereign flame, I call your oath false and challenge your rule. One-on-one. At moon’s rise."

Kai’s eyes narrowed.

Lyra stepped beside him. "She’s Velis’ cousin."

"Then blood runs thick with vengeance."

He turned to the Council.

"Let her come. I will meet her. I will answer her with steel and resolve."

Astra appeared then, fresh from her vision. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You won’t leave this duel unchanged, Kai."

"I never do," he said.

And somewhere, far beneath them, Velis smiled in the shadows.

Kai stood alone at the edge of the royal terrace as the wind howled like a wounded beast. The stars above seemed farther away tonight, as if they too feared the storm coming for the throne. Below, the kingdom rested in uneasy silence, unaware that by sunrise, everything might be different.

His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, but it wasn’t the steel he relied on—it was the choices he carried, each heavier than the last.

Footsteps approached. Lyra.

"You haven’t slept," she said softly.

He didn’t turn. "I can’t afford to."

She stepped beside him, her eyes searching his. "It’s not weakness to rest, Kai. It’s strategy. Even gods slept between wars."

Kai’s voice was a whisper. "What if this isn’t a war I’m meant to win?"

She didn’t flinch. "Then you win it anyway. Not for the prophecy. Not for the crown. For us."

He looked at her now, truly looked—at the worry hiding behind her brave front, at the pain of someone who’d lost too much already.

"I never asked to carry all of this."

"No one asks for the weight of a throne," Lyra replied. "They just decide whether to carry it alone... or with those who believe in them."

Kai finally let out a slow breath.

And for the first time that night, the air didn’t feel so heavy.

🔮 Preview – Chapter 63: Moonrise Duel

The night Kai meets his challenger beneath Iraleth’s war banner is anything but quiet.

As the moon bleeds crimson across the sky, ancient wards surrounding the palace begin to flicker—unraveling with a force not seen since the days of the Voidfall. The envoy’s blade isn’t just steel—it’s a cursed relic forged in the forgotten city of Harn. A blade made for one purpose: to spill royal blood.

But it isn’t just the duel that will test Kai’s strength.

Behind palace walls, Velis makes her move—her long game shifting into final stages. Allies will fall. A betrayal Kai never saw coming will rise to meet him, wearing the face of someone he once trusted with his life.

Meanwhile, Lyra faces a deadly choice of her own: save Kai... or protect a secret she swore never to reveal.

And Astra?

Astra dreams of fire—and wakes up with her hands burning.

The moon will rise. The blade will fall. And the next soul to bleed... might not be the one standing in the ring.

⚠️ Don’t scroll away—this story is just getting bloodier.

⚔️ Another duel. Another betrayal. Another choice that could shatter everything.

📚 Add this book to your library so you never miss a Chapter—it only gets darker from here.

💬 Drop your wildest theory in the comments—Who’s secretly working with Velis? Is Astra slipping into villainy?

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See you in Chapter 63. Bring a blade. You’ll need it.