It was a bright morning.
Unnaturally so.
The skies were cloudless, the wind absent. Even the birds seemed silent—like the estate itself sensed something wrong.
Kael stood atop the western balcony of House Vaelthorn, dressed in formal black, the Vaelthorn sigil sewn in crimson thread over his left chest.
He was not alone.
The Court of Thorns had assembled.
Nobles lined the gallery. Knights stood in silent ranks. Lady Merien was perched high upon her balcony, serene and unreadable. Serentha leaned against a column with her arms crossed. Rin stood beside her, bandaged but alert. Lyra flanked Kael, glaive in hand, expression unreadable.
Then they came.
Six cloaked figures walked up the main estate road in perfect silence.
And at the center—
—a man in a silver half-mask.
The same herald from before?
No.
This one was taller. Heavily robed. And radiated presence.
Kael knew at once:
This was not a pawn.
This was a player.
---
The Parley Begins
The masked envoy stopped just outside the wardline.
"I come as the Voice of the Circle," he said, his voice echoing unnaturally.
Kael didn't move.
"You walk into my house with six shadows, and expect peace?"
The envoy bowed slightly.
"I come with no weapons. Only truth. And a single offer."
The crowd whispered.
Kael raised a hand. "Speak. But carefully."
The envoy gestured, and his shadows withdrew to the treeline.
He stepped forward—and past the wardline.
Several nobles gasped. Even Serentha tensed.
But Kael said nothing.
The wards should have resisted anyone corrupted.
This man walked through like they weren't even there.
> That wasn't possible.
> Unless...
He was of Vaelthorn blood.
---
The First Revelation
The envoy removed his mask.
He was young.
Too young.
Mid-twenties, perhaps. Sharp silver hair. Eyes like still glass—mirroring everything, revealing nothing.
"I am Vaen," he said.
"Formerly of House Vaelthorn. Now of the Circle."
Gasps again. Even Lyra stiffened.
Kael's voice was a blade.
"Lies."
Vaen smiled faintly.
"Your great uncle. My mother. Banished after a failed bloodline trial, declared 'unfit to bloom.' But our blood was not discarded—merely redirected."
He stepped closer.
"I stand here not to beg. But to offer."
---
The Circle's Offer
Kael waited.
Vaen extended a silver scroll, sealed in bloodwax.
"This is a treaty. No more attacks. No more monoliths. We will end all hostilities."
"In exchange?" Kael asked flatly.
"You stop digging beneath the Vault."
The silence was a blade.
Even Duke Aldric shifted behind the curtain above.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know what's beneath?"
Vaen's smile was sad.
"Because we put it there. Together. Your ancestor and ours. The Rootbound King was not sealed by force—but by agreement. One half remained here. One half we took with us. The Circle guards the root."
Kael stared at him.
> "Then what do you want?"
> "We want you to forget him."
---
Tension Unleashed
Kael didn't answer.
He walked forward slowly.
Until he stood just three paces from Vaen.
"You stand in my home. Invoke blood. Offer peace. And demand silence."
Kael's voice lowered.
"But you forget what I saw. What I heard. What I am becoming."
Vaen's eyes flashed. "You think you're becoming him. But you're not. You're just a vessel. The root doesn't choose. It grows."
Kael reached into his coat.
And removed the sealed petal.
He crushed it between two fingers.
"No deal."
The winds roared.
---
The Ultimatum
Vaen exhaled once, then stepped back.
"So be it."
He turned, replacing the mask.
"But remember this, Kael Vaelthorn: the bloom cannot be burned. You may cut it. But the roots are already beneath your house, your halls, and your name."
"And you…"
"You've already cracked three chains. The fourth will not break. It will shatter."
He vanished.
No portal.
No spell.
Just… gone.
---
Aftermath – A Stirring Below
The moment he vanished, every torch in the courtyard went out.
And from beneath the estate—a sound.
Deep.
Echoing.
A breath.
Inhaled from somewhere no lungs should exist.
Rin clutched her head. "Something's stirring. Something beneath."
Kael's hand went to his chest.
A sharp pain bloomed.
The dagger, sealed tightly in its vault upstairs, was burning.
---
Private Chamber – Lyra Confronts Kael
That evening, Kael sat in silence, staring at the remnants of the scroll Vaen had left behind.
Lyra entered without knocking.
"You should have accepted."
Kael looked up.
"No."
"You're pushing yourself toward something none of us understand. We don't know what's in that Vault."
"I do."
"Do you? Or do you just feel it?"
Kael didn't respond.
Lyra walked to the dagger, still sealed.
She placed a hand over the case.
"I'm not afraid of what's down there. I'm afraid of losing you to it."
Kael's voice cracked slightly.
"I think… I've already started."
---
Final Scene – The Fourth Chain
In the Thorn Vault, the sealed figure stirred.
Chains glowed red-hot.
One snapped.
The fourth.
But this time, it didn't fall silently.
A voice filled the Vault.
> "He has chosen war."
> "Then let the bloom break free."
Petals scattered in the air—hundreds of them—each whispering a different name.
And one word echoed in the dark:
"KAEL."
---
End of Chapter 69