Chapter Summary:
After facing the darkness within, Echo emerges stronger—but not unscathed. The chamber of the Void Flame lies in ruin, and though the battle is over, a quiet storm brews back in Emberhold. Secrets stir. Loyalties fray. And Echo finds that surviving the fire was only the beginning.
Chapter 77: The Weight of Embers
The chamber had gone quiet.
Echo stood at the center of the ruins, her shadow gone, the Void Flame reduced to a dim flicker sealed inside the crystal she now held in her palm. It pulsed faintly, as though remembering its power, its hunger.
And her.
She closed her hand around it, and for a moment, the world felt unbearably still.
Behind her, Kael approached cautiously.
"You're really alright?" he asked, voice low.
Echo turned to him, the corners of her mouth twitching into a tired smile. "I'm… not sure. But I'm not who I was when I walked in."
He didn't respond right away. Instead, he reached out, brushed a soot-smudged strand of hair from her face, and murmured, "Good. Because that version of you scared the hell out of me."
Echo chuckled softly—because it was true.
That version of her had power without limits. But no soul.
Lumen, bruised and limping, scanned the walls. "I don't trust this place," she muttered. "If it can bring someone like her to life, who knows what else it can do?"
Dace stood silent, but his eyes were sharper than ever, flicking between the remnants of the altar and the faded flame core now sealed in Echo's possession.
"It's not the place," Nerya said. "It's what it draws out of you."
"And what it leaves behind," Echo added, fingers curling tighter around the crystal.
The group didn't speak much after that.
There was nothing more to say.
They made their way back to Emberhold by duskfall.
The desert wind had softened, carrying sand and silence. The fortress loomed ahead, dark against the crimson sky. Tall, iron-bound gates creaked open at their approach.
Servants bowed.
Guards saluted.
But something felt off.
Too quiet.
Too clean.
And then they noticed it—two guards in full ceremonial black at the front steps. Silent. Still.
Watching.
Echo's shoulders tensed.
Kael felt it too.
"Where's Mira?" she asked, voice calm but clipped.
One of the guards gestured toward the inner sanctum. "Waiting in the Grand Hall. She's… requested your presence."
"Requested?" Kael echoed.
Echo said nothing.
But her steps quickened.
The Grand Hall was dim, lit by a cascade of amber chandeliers that threw long shadows across the stone floor.
At the center stood Mira.
Draped in deep silver and emerald silk, her long black hair cascading down her back in tight braids. Her eyes gleamed like polished obsidian. And beside her—*
Lord Soren.*
Echo's breath hitched.
Soren.
The Cold Council's most ruthless tactician.
Her father's old ally.
Her former mentor.
And the man who had once tried to sell her power for political leverage.
"Echo," Mira greeted smoothly. "I heard you survived the flame."
"Barely," Echo replied, glancing warily at Soren. "What's he doing here?"
Soren smiled like a wolf in winter. "Saving Emberhold. Again."
Kael stepped in behind her, tense as a drawn arrow. "Explain."
Mira waved a hand as if the whole situation were trivial.
"While you were… gone, the Council sent a representative. They were concerned by the sudden disappearance of key leaders, a potential flame event, and the reports of a rogue heiress entering ancient vaults with a Cold CEO."
She turned to Echo.
"They think you've gone rogue."
Echo's heart sank. "I haven't—"
"I know," Mira cut in. "But perception matters. And perception, Echo, is not in your favor."
Soren stepped forward. "I've proposed a solution. One that benefits all sides."
Echo narrowed her eyes. "I'm not interested in alliances with snakes."
He grinned. "No alliance. Just oversight. You retain your position. Your flame. Even your… CEO." He gave Kael a cold look. "But the Council installs a monitor in Emberhold. Someone to report directly to them."
"Let me guess," Echo said, her voice like ice. "You."
He nodded, unbothered. "Naturally."
The silence stretched.
Echo's blood roared.
Mira gave her a sharp look. "This is better than exile. Or arrest. Or worse."
"You should've told me," Echo snapped. "You knew what I went through down there. What we faced. And you still—"
"I had to," Mira hissed. "I'm protecting what we built. Emberhold can't stand against the Council and a rogue flamebearer."
Kael spoke then, voice calm but flinty. "And what happens if Echo refuses?"
Soren shrugged. "Then we contain her. Quietly. Permanently."
Echo met his gaze.
Unflinching.
"You can try."
Nerya entered from the side, brows furrowed.
"What's going on?"
Mira hesitated.
Too long.
Too carefully.
And Nerya understood.
"You called them."
Mira looked away.
"I had to."
"No," Nerya said quietly. "You chose to. You never trusted her—not really."
Echo breathed deeply.
She looked at Soren.
Then at the flickering crystal in her palm.
And made a choice.
She raised it.
Let the ember glow—bright, gold and black.
It lit the room with heat and truth.
"I faced the Void," she said. "And I didn't bend. But you—" she turned to Mira "—broke the moment things got difficult."
Mira flinched.
Echo stepped back, clutching the ember close.
"This isn't over," she said.
"No," Soren agreed. "It's just beginning."