Chapter Summary:
With the second Ember Relic secured and Riven imprisoned, Echo returns to Emberhold. But whispers of betrayal haunt the corridors, and Riven's cryptic words reveal a truth she never expected—that someone within her own rebellion fed information to the Cold Council. As trust frays and secrets unfold, Echo faces a greater threat than any battlefield: betrayal from within.
Chapter 83: The Whispering Flame
The chains binding Riven weren't made of iron.
They were made of silence.
No room. No flame. No trial.
Echo kept him beneath the old Emberhold vault, the only chamber shielded from both magic and surveillance. He didn't scream. He didn't demand. He waited.
Because Riven Vale knew something.
And Echo was almost too afraid to hear it.
"You should let me interrogate him," Kael said as they walked the inner halls. "There's a way to break a man's pride without breaking his body."
Echo shook her head. "You don't break someone like Riven. You listen. And you wait for him to slip."
Kael frowned. "Slip into what? His old loyalties? Or madness?"
"I don't know," she said softly. "But the way he looked at that shard… it wasn't hunger."
Kael stopped.
"What was it then?"
"Possession."
Riven smiled when she entered the chamber.
Like they were still children.
Still training under Master Kylos. Still whispering in the garden after curfew.
"Sister," he said, as if the word had never been a weapon.
She ignored the chair, staying on her feet.
"You threw the shard at Kael."
"I gave him a choice," Riven replied. "And he passed."
Echo narrowed her eyes. "Passed what?"
Riven leaned forward, voice like smoldering ash.
"The First Flame is not a tool. It's a judge. Every relic you gather brings you closer to its memory—and its truth."
"I don't need riddles."
"No," he said. "You need names."
She stilled.
Riven's eyes gleamed.
"Ask your rebels who told the Council about the first Flame vault."
Echo's heart slammed against her ribs.
"We never—"
"You did," Riven said. "Not all of you. Just one. And they're still walking your halls."
Back upstairs, the air tasted of stone and distrust.
Echo summoned the rebel captains—Nerya, Joren, Lys, and Mace.
She laid the map out on the war table.
"We were ambushed in Emberhold's vault," she said. "Not by chance. By timing. Someone told the Council."
Joren crossed his arms. "You think one of us is the leak?"
"I don't think," she said. "I know."
Mace looked stricken. "You're trusting Riven?"
"I'm trusting patterns," she said coldly. "Only six of us knew when we left for the Hollow. Only six."
Kael glanced at the captains.
One of them swallowed.
Echo saw it.
Saw the twitch. The shift.
"Nerya," she said quietly.
The woman stiffened.
"Say it isn't you."
"I would never—" she began, but her voice cracked.
Kael stepped forward. "Tell us who you spoke to before we left. No riddles."
Nerya's eyes brimmed.
"I didn't mean to betray anyone."
Silence crashed through the room.
Echo stepped closer. "Then what did you mean to do?"
Nerya hesitated. "My brother… he's still under the Council's protection. I passed a message through an old smuggler route. I thought it was secure. Just a location to meet—nothing more. I didn't know they were tracing my transmissions."
Echo's voice dropped to a whisper.
"You gave them a time and a place."
"I was trying to save family."
Kael's expression was unreadable.
"You almost got Echo killed."
"And you," she shot back. "You think you've never gambled with her life?"
The room went still.
Echo turned away.
"This isn't about Kael."
Her voice turned iron.
"This is about choice. You chose to put us at risk. And you didn't tell me."
Nerya dropped to her knees.
"Then punish me. But don't abandon my brother."
Echo looked down at her.
And in Nerya's eyes, she saw a piece of herself. That same desperation. That same reckless need to protect the ones she'd almost lost.
"Confine her," Echo said at last. "But no dungeons. Let her brother go if we find him. We fight for people, not against them."
Kael gave a nod.
Nerya was led away.
But the weight of betrayal remained.
Later that night, Echo sat by the fire.
Riven's words echoed in her mind.
"Every relic you gather brings you closer to its memory—and its truth."
She held the second shard in her palm.
It pulsed like a heartbeat.
Not violent. Not angry.
Just aware.
"What do you see?" Kael asked quietly, joining her.
"Flame. War. A future I don't understand."
He placed a hand over hers.
"You don't have to face it alone."
She met his eyes.
And for the first time in a long time, the fire in her chest didn't feel like a burden.
It felt like hope.
Deep below the surface, Riven sat in his chamber.
Alone.
The walls shimmered with residual heat.
He reached into his cloak.
Pulled a tiny, dark crystal from his sleeve.
Not a relic.
Not flame.
But void.
It pulsed once.
Then whispered a single word:
"Soon."