His Bride, Her Revenge
Chapter 108: A Forbidden Love

Chapter 108: A Forbidden Love

The storm of silver light raged above, and the battlefield trembled beneath its weight. Cambria stood frozen for a breathless heartbeat, staring into the void that was Seraphine’s gaze. The perfected soldiers, their features eerily blank, began their advance each step a drumbeat of inevitability, of doom.

But Cambria wasn’t alone.

Maddox appeared at her side, his blade already slick with the ichor of the first wave. His breath was ragged, his body battered, but his eyes those storm-grey eyes burned only for her.

"Cam," he said, his voice low, steady despite the chaos. "You have to go. We’ll hold them "

"No," she said, steel in her voice. "We stand together. I will not run."

His fingers brushed hers for the briefest second, an anchor in the storm. The world narrowed to that touch, that fleeting warmth. And then it widened again, filled with the roar of war.

Knox, too, stepped forward. The black flame still licked at his skin, his power coiled and ready. His face was pale beneath the soot and scars, but his stance was unyielding. "Seraphine’s not here for the army. She’s here for you. You know that."

Cambria’s gaze flicked between them Maddox, the man who had bled for her without question; Knox, the man who had broken her and himself in the pursuit of a twisted salvation. And Seraphine, the queen of shadows, watched with something like amusement.

"A queen divided between two kings," Seraphine whispered, her voice carrying across the field like a song. "And yet neither can claim you."

The words struck deep. Cambria’s heart ached with truths she had long buried. The nights she’d lain awake thinking of Maddox’s quiet strength, the way his loyalty had been her salvation. The memories of Knox’s fire, his passion that once made her believe in forever. A forbidden love on both sides, tangled in duty and betrayal.

The storm above crackled, as if the heavens themselves were eager for blood.

"Is this what you want, Cambria Vale?" Seraphine’s voice softened, seductive as silk. "A war fought by men who would burn for you? A crown built on their bones?"

Cambria raised her sword, her voice ringing clear. "No. I want a world where love does not have to be a crime."

For a moment, Seraphine’s expression shifted grief, maybe, or the ghost of who she once was.

Then the moment was gone.

"Then you are a fool," Seraphine said, her hands rising. "And I will end your suffering."

The ground split beneath them as the perfected soldiers surged forward.

Maddox moved without hesitation, cutting down the first with a cry that echoed with more than battle fury it was the cry of a man fighting for the woman he loved, knowing he might never hear her speak his name with love in return.

Knox unleashed his flame, black fire meeting silver light, the collision of powers shaking the sky.

Cambria dove into the fray, her blade singing through the air, her heart pounding with more than fear it pounded with the weight of choices unmade, of love she had no right to claim, of hearts bound by blood and betrayal.

And high above, Seraphine watched. Waiting.

Cambria’s blade met silver steel, the clash ringing out like a bell of doom. The perfected soldier before her didn’t flinch, didn’t bleed, didn’t even seem to feel the blow. It raised its sword again with mechanical precision, forcing her back a step. Sparks flew as she parried, her muscles burning with the effort.

Maddox was at her side in an instant. His blade struck true, cleaving the soldier’s head from its body. The thing collapsed, and for a heartbeat, there was peace before the next wave crashed upon them.

"Fall back!" Maddox shouted. "We can’t hold the line here!"

"No!" Cambria’s voice was fierce. "We stand. If we fall back, Seraphine will breach the sanctuary."

And then Knox was there, flames swirling around him like a storm. His eyes burned with that impossible mix of god and man, and his voice was thunder. "She already has. Can’t you feel it? She’s inside everything now the wind, the ground, the flame. This battlefield is hers."

Cambria’s chest tightened. She could feel it the way the earth pulsed with Seraphine’s will, the way the air tasted of ash and inevitability.

"We fight anyway," she said, her voice soft but unbreakable. "If we die, we die as ourselves not as her pawns."

Knox stared at her, something shattering in his gaze. For a moment, the tyrant was gone. The boy who loved her was all that remained.

And Maddox... oh, Maddox. His eyes met hers, and in that glance was everything unspoken: the nights he’d stood guard while she wept, the times he’d bled so she wouldn’t have to, the love he’d carried in silence because he thought it his duty to let her go.

The storm raged on.

The perfected soldiers moved with deadly grace, their weapons slicing the air, their advance relentless. Cambria, Knox, and Maddox fought as one a dance of steel and flame, of loyalty and regret, of love too dangerous to name.

But the enemy was endless.

The ground split anew, and from the chasm rose a figure cloaked in silver and shadow. Her hair was moonlight; her eyes, the void. Seraphine herself stepped onto the battlefield, and with her coming, the wind stilled, the storm held its breath.

"All this," she said, her voice soft as falling snow, "because of a love that should never have been."

Cambria raised her blade. "You don’t know what love is."

Seraphine laughed, and the sound was beautiful and terrible at once. "Oh, child. I was love, once. But love is a weakness the world cannot bear. And neither can you."

She lifted her hand, and the perfected soldiers froze mid-strike. The storm above swirled tighter, black stars burning cold in the sky.

"Choose," Seraphine said. "One life to save. The rest, I will claim."

Cambria’s heart stopped.

"What?"

"One life," Seraphine repeated. "Maddox. Knox. The people. The throne. You can have one. The rest will burn."

Maddox stepped forward. "Take me. Let them go."

Knox stepped forward. "No. Take me. I’m the one who started this. Let her go."

Cambria shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. "No! I won’t I won’t choose!"

Seraphine’s eyes glowed. "Then you choose them all to die."

The ground shook. The perfected soldiers raised their blades as one. The storm began to fall dark stars raining death from the sky.

And then

From the horizon, a new light rose.

Blinding. Fierce. Pure.

A roar echoed across the battlefield, a sound so primal it silenced even the storm.

The armies turned, the storm paused, Seraphine’s smile faltered.

And there, riding out of the dawn, was a figure cloaked in gold and flame.

Lucien Vale.

Alive.

And behind him, an army of the forgotten the banished, the broken, the lost all bearing the mark of the true crown.

"Enough!" Lucien’s voice was command itself. The storm parted before his will.

Seraphine hissed, stepping back.

Cambria’s heart stuttered. Her father the man she’d mourned, the king she’d thought lost forever was here.

And the tide of war shifted.

The battlefield froze in that impossible moment, dawn battling night, love battling hate.

But even as hope rose, the sky cracked open light and shadow tearing apart the heavens and through that rift came something worse than Seraphine.

A creature of the old world.

A god forgotten.

It spoke only one word, but it was enough to turn the blood in their veins to ice:

"Judgment."

And the Chapter ends on the precipice of war not just for a crown, but for the soul of the world itself.

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