Chapter Summary:
The final siege begins. Liora marches at the front of her army, wielding the Eternal Frost itself, intent on destroying Flamehold and rewriting the world. But Echo, now a vessel of both fire and frost, steps onto the battlefield as something no prophecy foretold. As enemies clash and secrets burn away, one truth rises: only one queen will stand by the end.
Chapter 110: Crown of Ash and Ice
The sky wept fire.
Flamehold burned, but not from defeat. From defiance.
The Frostbound army had broken through the outer defenses. Tower after tower fell, yet still, the city would not kneel. At its heart, the Heartflame surged in unnatural pulses, its crimson glow now veined with threads of glacial blue.
And above it all, Echo stood—cloaked not in silk or gold, but in flame and frost, her body marked with shifting sigils.
She no longer looked like a princess.
She looked like a reckoning.
Kael paced at the war table, armor half-buckled, blood still crusting the edges of his gloves.
"She's going to face Liora alone," he growled. "We can't let her—"
"She's not alone," Merek said. "She's more than she was."
"She's still human!" Kael snapped.
"No," came a quiet voice. "She's not."
Kael turned.
At the entrance stood the High Oracle of Flamehold—blind, ancient, forgotten by most.
"I read the true prophecy before it was buried," she said. "There was never meant to be two heirs. The Flame and the Frost were born in one."
Kael's blood ran cold.
"You mean…"
"She is the balance," the Oracle said. "And tonight, she will choose which half survives."
The city square had become a battlefield.
Liora entered on a chariot made of blackened ice, her crown forged from the core of the Eternal Glacier. Around her, her elite guard moved like shadows, cutting down any who dared resist.
But her eyes were fixed ahead.
Where Echo stood, sword drawn, her hair a torrent of flame streaked with silver frost.
"So," Liora called, stepping from the chariot. "You've made your choice."
Echo's voice was calm. "I didn't choose fire. Or frost. I chose freedom."
Liora laughed. "How noble. How foolish."
She raised her hand. The ground froze instantly.
Buildings shattered under the weight of ice. The wind screamed.
But Echo did not flinch.
She stepped forward, and the frost receded.
With every step she took, fire bloomed. Ice followed. A duality that bent the laws of both realms.
"You carry both," Liora said, circling. "But you'll never master them."
Echo narrowed her eyes. "Watch me."
The two queens clashed.
Fire met frost. Storms rose. Lightning arced between them, fueled by ancient magic that hadn't touched the world in centuries.
Liora hurled a spear of pure ice—Echo caught it and melted it midair.
Echo answered with a spiral of fire blades—Liora shattered them with a blink.
For every move, there was a counter.
But it was Echo who changed the rhythm.
She merged them.
One hand burned. The other froze. Her sword glowed with dual energies, becoming something new—something neither Flamebound nor Frostborn.
A blade born of contradiction.
A blade that belonged to no world.
As they fought, memories flashed behind Echo's eyes.
Her father dying in the first Frost war.
Her mother's frostkissed touch as she hid her infant in the embers.
Kael's trembling hands when he first realized what she was.
And the Heartflame, whispering to her in a voice that was both her own and something ancient.
Choose not what you were born to be.
Choose what the world needs you to become.
Liora screamed, releasing the shard of Eternal Frost from her chest.
It spun midair—then hurled toward Echo with a force meant to annihilate.
Echo caught it.
And her body lit with flame and cold in equal measure.
The shard tried to consume her.
But she bent it.
Melded it.
Transformed it.
And when the light cleared
She wore it as a crown.
All fell silent.
Liora dropped to one knee, disbelief painting her face.
"You… you forged it anew…"
Echo stepped closer, her blade at Liora's throat.
"I ended the cycle."
Liora's lip trembled. "Kill me, then."
Echo paused.
Then lowered the sword.
"No. I won't make you a martyr."
She turned to the remaining Frostbound soldiers. "Your queen is done. Choose peace—or perish with her."
Some dropped their weapons.
Others turned and fled.
But none advanced.
When it was over, the square stood still.
Ash fell with snow. Fire curled gently with ice. And at the center of it all stood Echo—exhausted, crowned, changed.
Kael found her there, his armor dented, his face streaked with soot.
"You did it," he whispered.
Echo looked at him with tired, shining eyes.
"No," she said. "We did."
He stepped forward, touching her face.
"You're not just queen now."
"I was never meant to be," she replied. "But I'll become one. My way."
And as Flamehold's battered bells rang once more, Echo Frostflare—last heir of the fire, blood of the frost—took her first step not as a girl chasing legacy…
…but as a woman rewriting it.