The palace air thickened with tension over the next two days, like the hush before a lightning storm. Whispers curled through the halls—nobles falling suddenly silent when Rose entered a room, advisors offering half-truths, and even the guards watching her just a little too closely.
The Queen had tightened her net.
But Rose had started building her own.
Deep beneath the east wing, past walls painted with old wars and newer lies, Rose stood before a half-rotted door. Kyle waited beside her, hand on the hilt of his blade.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"They're the only ones I trust now," she said, then pushed the door open.
Inside, seven figures stood waiting.
Each had been loyal to her once—in a life the world believed long gone. A foreign merchant's daughter with poison in her rings. A royal tutor who could forge any seal in the kingdom. A former street thief with fingers faster than thought. And others. Whispered names. Ghosts like her.
They were the Ash Circle—her secret court from the life before.
And she had brought them back.
"I need all of you," she said simply, facing them. "The Queen knows. Christopher is compromised. Darius moves like a shadow, and there's a flame beneath this palace that wants to burn us all."
The poisoner—Maela—arched a brow. "And what do you want us to do, Princess?"
Rose smiled faintly. "Start a fire of our own."
---
At the same hour, Christopher knelt in the Queen's private sanctum, his hands trembling slightly as he presented the scroll she had requested. She took it without looking at him.
"You met Darius again," the Queen said.
Christopher's eyes flickered. "He brings information. I'm trying to keep us from war."
"You are a prince. Not a diplomat. And certainly not a traitor." Her tone was glacial.
"I'm trying to save lives," he muttered.
"No," she snapped, stepping closer, cupping his face in her cold fingers. "You're being used. You think Darius serves you? He serves the Hollow Flame. And they will eat you alive the moment you stop being useful."
Christopher swallowed. "So what do we do?"
"We prepare," the Queen said, turning away. "There's a feast in three nights. Your engagement will be announced."
He went still. "Engagement?"
"To Lady Elira."
He blinked. "But—I haven't even spoken to—"
"You don't need to," she said. "You only need to obey."
---
When Rose heard the announcement the next day, she didn't flinch.
She smiled.
Because she had already met Elira.
The girl had approached her in the garden weeks ago, eyes wide, voice trembling, pretending to seek favor. But Rose had seen the flicker of intelligence behind the mask.
Now, Elira served two queens.
And one of them wasn't Mariam.
"She'll play the part," Rose told Kyle, "until the moment she's needed."
Kyle nodded, then handed her a torn scrap of parchment.
It had been slipped under their door in the night.
> The Hollow Flame meets at moon's peak. West chapel. Come alone. Or don't come at all.
Kyle scowled. "It's a trap."
Rose smiled. "Of course it is."
"But?"
"But I'm done playing small."
She tucked the note into her sleeve and looked toward the setting sun.
"Let's see what the fire looks like up close."
---
That night, cloaked in silence, she slipped from her chambers and into the cold marble corridors. Kyle followed, hidden in the shadows, one step behind.
The west chapel loomed ahead, empty… at first glance.
Then a whisper. A shift.
Dozens of hooded figures emerged from the darkness, encircling her like a slow-moving tide. In their center stood a woman draped in black robes, a golden flame embroidered across her chest.
"You are not welcome here," the woman said.
"Then why invite me?"
"To see if you had the courage to come."
Rose held her chin high. "I've died once. Courage is all I have left."
The woman smiled, cruel and cold. "Then kneel. And swear yourself to the Hollow Flame."
Rose looked at the ring of firelight, at the masked faces, at the symbol that had once branded her death.
And then—she laughed.
"I don't kneel to shadows," she said. "I burn them."
From the doorway, Kyle tossed something into the room.
A crystal vial.
It shattered.
And the world turned to smoke and screams.