Scene: Blackwood Citadel – War Chamber, Midnight Hours
POV: Amara
The map lit up like a heartbeat—red lines marking troop deployments, blue zones representing air scans, and one single golden dot pulsing faintly on the far eastern edge of the screen.
That was him.
My king.
My husband.
My obsession.
The room was quiet. No one dared speak. Not when I was standing. Not when I was watching that dot flicker like a soul refusing to die.
I had sent Shadow Hawk Team Zero-One into the ridge twenty minutes ago—silent, cloaked, with strict orders: extract Chris Blackwood alive and untouched.
> "ETA to Zone Sigma?" I asked, without looking away from the map.
> "Eleven minutes, Your Majesty," the lead handler replied from behind the holographic interface.
> "Good."
My eyes flicked toward the massive display above the situation table, where real-time terrain scans streamed.
> "Deploy a decoy air unit over Zone Echo. Give them something else to chase while we pull the soul of this empire back into our hands."
The handler hesitated.
A mistake.
> "Now."
> "Yes, Your Majesty."
I turned slowly and walked to the private glass door that overlooked the vast capital. The sky outside was bruised, heavy with storm clouds. It matched my mood.
> "He's alive," I whispered, resting my hand against the glass. "Of course he is. Because death can't take what I've already claimed."
---
I glanced to the side as Classic entered, looking like he hadn't slept in days either. Our eyes met.
> "Update?" he asked gently.
> "Shadow Hawk is closing in. If there are enemies waiting, they'll taste blood before they see a face."
He nodded.
But I saw something in his expression—a question he hadn't asked yet.
> "Say it," I told him. "Whatever is biting your tongue."
> "What if… when he returns… he doesn't forgive how we ruled in his silence?"
I smiled. But it wasn't warm.
> "Then he'll remind us why the world fears the name Blackwood."
---
But in my heart?
I wasn't afraid of his judgment.
I was afraid… of what he'd become because of it.
Because a king betrayed in silence doesn't just return to rule.
He returns to conquer.
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