His Bride, Her Revenge
Chapter 116: The King’s Last Move

Chapter 116: The King’s Last Move

The silence of the cavern was deceiving.

Cambria’s boots struck the stone with the echo of finality as she led Knox and Maddox deeper into the heart of the hidden chamber. The glow of molten gold and black flame bathed their faces in a haunting light, the heat rising in waves that made the air shimmer. Each breath tasted of ash and old magic, and the weight of countless generations pressed down on them as if the mountain itself disapproved of their presence.

Knox’s gaze never left the towering spire at the cavern’s center. It rose like a broken finger pointing at the sky that would never be seen from this place, crowned in ancient symbols only half-remembered by history. He felt it calling to him, the same way the black flame had except this was deeper, older. Not a hunger for destruction, but a demand for surrender.

Cambria stopped at the edge of one of the molten rivers, sweat beading on her brow despite the chill that clung to her skin. The spire beyond seemed impossibly far, the rivers of liquid fire carving a maze that would burn any who dared the crossing.

"We can’t stand here and stare at it," Maddox said, his voice strained. His eyes darted over the shifting flows of gold and flame. "There must be a path."

"There always is," Cambria murmured. "If you know where to look."

She scanned the cavern, letting her mind quiet, seeking what her eyes could not. And then she saw it small pillars of stone, half-swallowed by molten gold, forming a broken path toward the spire’s base. The gaps were wide; the stone slick. One wrong step would mean a fall into the fire.

Knox stepped forward. "I’ll go first."

Cambria turned to him sharply. "No. We do this together."

Their eyes locked for a moment, understanding passing between them in the unspoken language of shared scars. He nodded.

Together, they moved. One by one, they leapt from pillar to pillar, the heat searing their lungs, the air shimmering with dangerous beauty. Maddox’s breath came in ragged bursts, but he kept pace, his focus unbroken. The molten rivers hissed beneath them like serpents waiting for a slip.

At last, they reached the base of the spire. Up close, the ancient stone seemed alive veins of gold running through the black rock, pulsing like a heartbeat. The symbols carved into its surface glowed faintly, reacting to their presence.

Knox reached out, his hand trembling. Cambria caught his wrist.

"Not yet," she said. "We don’t know what it will awaken."

A voice answered from the shadows low, cold, and familiar.

"You awaken it simply by standing here."

Lucien stepped from behind a crumbled arch at the spire’s edge. His face was drawn, pale beneath streaks of soot and blood, his eyes hollow with exhaustion. In his hand, he held a blade of black steel, ancient and pitted with age.

"Father," Cambria breathed, torn between fury and heartbreak. "What are you doing here?"

Lucien smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Finishing what I began. The king’s last move."

Knox tensed. Maddox drew his sword, though it seemed a feeble gesture in this place of old gods and older sins.

"You knew this would happen," Cambria said. Her voice was quiet, deadly. "You led us here."

"I had to," Lucien said. His voice cracked. "Don’t you see? The Engine, the flame, the spire they’re all part of the same cycle. Seraphine didn’t create this. She uncovered it. I tried to bury it. I failed."

He looked at Knox, at Cambria, at the burning rivers around them.

"You think you can stop what’s coming? The First Flame was never meant for a single ruler. It was meant to cleanse the world. That’s what Seraphine wanted. That’s what I tried to prevent by making the Engine. And now it’s too late."

Knox stepped forward. "We’re not here to listen to your regrets."

Lucien raised his blade. "No. You’re here to die."

Without warning, he lunged. The blade hissed through the air, black steel meeting golden fire as Cambria blocked the strike with her own weapon. Sparks flew, the sound of the clash ringing through the cavern like a death knell.

Maddox moved to intercept, but Lucien was faster than he had any right to be. His blade carved a shallow gash along Maddox’s side, sending him stumbling back with a gasp of pain.

Cambria pressed the attack, driving Lucien back toward the spire. Their swords met again and again, the force of their strikes shaking the very stone beneath their feet.

Knox hesitated, torn between joining the fray and moving toward the spire. The power there called to him, stronger now, the promise of an end to this endless war whispering in his bones.

Lucien saw the hesitation. "Go on, Knox. Take it. See where it leads. You’ll be the next to fall."

Knox’s fists clenched. "I don’t want it."

"Liar!" Lucien roared. He broke free of Cambria’s blade and swung at Knox, but Cambria threw herself between them, steel meeting steel once more.

"You don’t get to decide how this ends," she said through gritted teeth.

Lucien’s strength faltered, his breath coming ragged. But his eyes burned with the fire of a man who had lost everything and meant to take the world with him.

"This is the only way," he said, voice breaking. "I tried to save you from this. I tried to save all of you. But the flame consumes. It always consumes."

Cambria disarmed him with a final strike, sending his blade clattering to the stone. Lucien fell to his knees, chest heaving, his hands shaking.

She stood over him, her blade at his throat.

"Then let it consume me," she said. "But not on your terms."

Lucien’s gaze softened, tears cutting tracks through the grime on his face. "I failed you."

"No," she said. "You failed yourself."

The cavern trembled. The molten rivers surged higher, the spire’s symbols flaring with blinding light. Knox reached for Cambria, pulling her back as the floor cracked beneath Lucien, the stone opening like a wound.

Lucien smiled, as if at last at peace.

"End it," he said.

And the earth swallowed him whole.

Cambria staggered back, breathless, as the chasm sealed itself in molten gold.

The spire pulsed. The First Flame awakened.

And above them, the world began to burn.

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