His Bride, Her Revenge
Chapter 105: The Ties That Bind Us

Chapter 105: The Ties That Bind Us

The sky wept fire.

Dark stars bled across the heavens, each trailing smoke and screams as they fell to earth. They struck with the force of divine reckoning, shattering mountaintops, carving craters in cities already scarred by war, and unraveling the fragile threads of peace Cambria had barely managed to weave.

Cambria stood by the broken window of the Hollow Crown, her gaze fixed on the falling stars. Evelyn stood beside her, sword in hand, while Knox remained motionless at her back like a shadow unsure of where it belonged.

"They’re not meteors," Maddox said grimly, stepping into the light of the shattered chamber. "They’re vessels."

Cambria’s jaw clenched. "Weapons."

Knox nodded. "Each carries perfected soul warriors bred in the dark, loyal only to her."

"Seraphine," Evelyn spat. "Of course, she’s been building her army beneath our feet."

Cambria turned to Knox. "You knew this was coming."

"Only in echoes," he said. "Her mind is fragmented, like glass in a hurricane. But the pieces are aligning. The Queen of Silence is no longer dreaming. She’s remembering. And soon, she will act."

Thunder cracked overhead, not the kind born of the storm, but something worse. Something unnatural.

The Hollow Crown trembled.

Cambria took a deep breath. The ashes on the wind, the weight of the ruined empire, the ghosts in the walls they pressed against her, begging her to fall.

But she did not bend.

"Maddox," she said, steel in her voice, "rally the remaining Ravens. Send word to the surviving monarchs and fractured Houses. Tell them the War of Fire is over. The War of Silence has begun."

He hesitated only a moment before nodding. "And what about him?" His eyes flicked to Knox.

Cambria turned. Knox stood barefoot, scorched, bleeding but unbowed. The embers in his eyes had dimmed to coals.

"He answers to me now," she said.

Knox did not speak.

Cambria did not flinch.

The war room beneath the Hollow Crown had once been the heart of strategy, diplomacy, and empire. Now it was a sanctuary of last chances. The ancient map table flickered with illusion-magic, showing real-time images of the continent. Fires bloomed across it like wounds.

All around the table, voices clashed: nobles who had survived the fall, generals who refused to kneel, and emissaries of broken cities.

Cambria silenced them with a single gesture.

"The Queen of Silence has awakened," she said. "And her army has already begun its march. We are not fighting for borders anymore. We are fighting for reality."

An aged general, Lord Halwen, one of the last loyal to Cambria’s mother, stood. "Forgive me, Majesty, but how can we believe this? Seraphine Vale has been dead for centuries."

Cambria stared at him. Then she raised her hand.

And Knox stepped forward.

The room went cold.

"You all remember the Prodigal King," Cambria said. "You feared him. You fought him. Some of you died because of him. But he returned. And he brought truth with him."

Knox’s voice, when it came, was low and rough. "You believed I was the end. I believed it too. But she, " he looked at Cambria, "was always meant to be more than just a weapon. She is the only one who can face Seraphine."

Cambria met the gazes of every soul in the room. "I will not ask for your trust. Only your strength. Fight for your homes. Fight for your children. Fight because there will be no second war if we lose this one. There will be no world left to reclaim."

A silence settled.

Then Evelyn slammed her sword on the table. "For the Queen."

"For the Realm," Maddox said.

One by one, the others followed. Steel rang. Magic surged.

And the last alliance was born.

Night fell.

The Hollow Crown became a hive of preparation spells carved into walls, weapons drawn from vaults sealed for centuries, and soldiers fitted with new armor laced with God Engine energy. Cambria oversaw it all, tireless, a storm-wearing human skin.

In the deepest hours of the night, she stood alone in the war garden.

The moonlight touched her silver hair, her shadow long and silent among the statues of past rulers. She did not cry. She did not tremble.

But she was breaking.

"You hide it well," came a voice.

She turned.

Knox stood at the edge of the garden, watching her. He had changed into dark armor, simple and unadorned, a mirror of what he once wore as a prince but stripped of glory.

"You shouldn’t be here," she said.

"Probably not," he agreed. "But I had to see you. One more time. Before the world changes again."

She looked away.

"Why did you come back, Knox? Really?"

He exhaled. Walked closer. "Because I remembered the girl who once held a blade to my throat and spared me. Because I remembered what it felt like to be human beside you."

She faced him fully now.

"Do you still believe you can be that man again?"

"I don’t know," he said. "But I believe you can be that girl."

She closed the distance between them, slowly.

"That girl died in a fire."

"Then let’s find the woman who rose from it."

They stood in silence. The wind stirred the roses. A thousand memories passed between them none spoken. None denied.

Cambria finally spoke. "If you betray me again "

"I won’t," he said.

She didn’t nod. She didn’t smile. But she didn’t step away either.

That was enough.

Dawn.

The sky was still bleeding.

From every corner of the realm, Cambria’s forces converged: skyships from the floating isles, rune-carved war-beasts from the southern sands, blood-sworn assassins from the Broken Spire. The Alliance marched to war, a chorus of hope against the silence.

But at the center stood three:

Cambria is crownless but not powerless.

Knox, fire-forged and fractured.

Evelyn, the sword that never bent.

Together, they approached the gates of the Hollow Crown.

And there, waiting like a nightmare carved from prophecy, stood a figure in black and white robes. A mask of mirrored silver hid her face. Around her hovered five warriors each a Pandora creation perfected, their bodies humming with ancient power.

The figure removed her mask.

And the world gasped.

Seraphine Vale’s face was unchanged beautiful, ageless, terrible. Her eyes were pure white. Her voice was thunder wrapped in silk.

"Daughter."

Cambria did not blink. "Monster."

Seraphine’s smile did not falter. "Come, then. Let us bind the world together in silence. One final time."

As Cambria raises her sword to answer, the earth beneath the Hollow Crown splits open, revealing a colossal buried structure an inverted palace pulsing with runes older than language.

The God Engine hums beneath the soil.

And the war begins.