Chapter Summary:
Echo returns to the capital with hope in her heart, believing the Ember Rebellion is the last great threat to peace. But within the council chambers, dissent brews like poison, and the person pulling the strings isn't a political rival — it's someone from Kael's forgotten past.
Chapter 105: A Ghost in the Glass
The city greeted her return with silence.
No cheers. No flowers. No banners.
Only watchful eyes.
"They heard," Kael said as they rode through the city gates. "About Emberfall."
"They'll twist it," Echo murmured. "Make it sound like surrender."
Kael gave her a look. "And was it?"
"No. It was a beginning."
She didn't add what she feared in her bones — that sometimes, beginnings are the most fragile of things.
Inside the Ashen Court, the council waited.
They didn't rise when she entered.
Layna sat stiff-backed, arms crossed. Jiro looked away. Alara scowled openly.
Sella, the youngest, looked torn — caught between loyalty and fear.
Echo didn't ask for a warm welcome. She didn't need it.
"What's happened?" she asked, moving to the center.
Layna stood.
"You left," she said. "You walked into rebel territory with no protection, no vote, no counsel. And now, word spreads that you pardoned Thalia."
"I stopped a war," Echo replied.
"You stopped one fire," Layna said, voice sharp. "But another is already burning. Inside this room."
Kael remained outside, pacing the corridors like a tethered shadow. He didn't trust the air within — it felt wrong, too still. And then he saw her.
A flash of silver-blonde hair.
A silhouette that shouldn't exist.
He froze.
"No…"
She stepped into the light, smile curling like smoke.
"Kael."
His voice caught. "Liora."
Inside the council hall, Echo was trying to explain her choice when the chamber doors creaked.
Kael entered, pale as frost.
At his side walked a woman — graceful, poised, and cruelly beautiful.
Every council member looked up. Some gasped.
Sella whispered, "That's her. The Frost Veil."
Liora dipped her head mockingly. "Did I miss introductions?"
Echo stiffened. "Who is she?"
Kael's voice was quiet. "My past."
Liora's smile widened. "And perhaps… your undoing."
Liora Serenth. Once the daughter of the Frostbound High Chancellor. Presumed dead during the Black Frost massacre. Also Kael's former fiancée — a union arranged by bloodlines, broken by war and betrayal.
And now she stood in Echo's capital, under her roof.
"You have no right—" Echo began.
"I have every right," Liora said. "I am here under truce. Invited by half your council."
Layna stood again, defiant. "We needed an external voice. A true Frostbound one. Not someone who's played pet to the heiress."
Kael's hand went to his blade, but Echo raised hers. "Don't."
Liora stepped forward. "I've come to offer alliance. Not with you, but with the council — the ones not blinded by your fairytale peace."
The room felt colder.
Jiro spoke up. "You speak of peace, but your name is etched into war."
Liora shrugged. "Peace comes from strength. From order. Not idealism."
Echo stepped forward, voice steady. "And what would you offer?"
"Guidance," Liora said. "Stability. Frostbound resources, trade, soldiers — but only if the council governs together. Not under a self-appointed savior."
The word landed like venom.
Kael turned to Echo. "She's dividing them."
"She doesn't have to," Echo said. "They're already divided."
Later that night, Kael found Echo alone in the old solar, staring into a mirror that hadn't reflected light since her mother died.
"She's baiting us," he said.
"She doesn't have to try hard."
"She'll twist everything I was. Everything we were."
Echo's eyes flickered with sadness. "Were you ever in love with her?"
He didn't answer.
"I need to know."
Kael exhaled. "She was… a ghost in my life even when she was alive. A duty. A mirror. We looked perfect on paper. But there was no fire. Not like this."
He reached out, touching her hand. "Not like us."
The next morning, Echo convened the council again — this time, not as a figurehead, but as a challenger.
"I will not play politics with ghosts," she said. "If you believe Liora offers you something I cannot, vote now. But understand this—"
She held up the Heartflame.
"This doesn't belong to Frost or Flame. It belongs to the future. And I will burn every lie to protect it."
Silence.
Then Sella stood. Small. Barely sixteen.
"I followed her across the war because she believed in us — not in power."
She turned to Liora. "I won't trade that hope for your cold promises."
One by one, the votes fell.
Echo: 5.
Liora: 3.
The heiress still held the council.
But only just.
Liora smiled as she left the chamber. "Your kingdom's fragile, Echo."
"Maybe," Echo said. "But it's mine. And it's real."
Liora's eyes narrowed. "I'll be seeing you again."
Echo watched her go.
"Not if I see you first."