The war wasn't about territory.
It was personal.
Two survivors of the same nightmare.
Two daughters of the same unholy design.
But only one had killed the mother.
And now the other wanted vengeance.
Seraphine didn't want Aeris's empire.
She wanted her ruined.
---
London.
At exactly 2:06 AM, a classified video feed from a defunct lab in Montenegro went live for thirty-three minutes.
It showed Aeris Vale—age twelve—breaking her restraints and stabbing her mother in the throat with a shard of memory glass.
The audio was clear. The scream unforgettable.
Seraphine had released it globally.
Governments panicked. News cycles erupted.
The public demanded Aeris's arrest.
The Board of ValeCorp held an emergency session to discuss "damage control."
By 3:40 AM, all twelve board members were dead.
"You don't call a trial for a queen," Aeris told her AI. "You bury the dissenters."
---
In the shadows, Lucien worked.
He silenced politicians. Paid off media czars. Bribed private military. Turned allies into puppets.
And when whispers of rebellion stirred within her own company, he poisoned three COOs with a synthetic nerve agent disguised as vitamin serum.
"You're escalating," Aeris told him.
"You gave me half the world," Lucien said. "I'm just protecting it."
She said nothing, but the look in her eyes…
It wasn't disapproval.
It was possession.
---
Meanwhile, Seraphine made her next move.
A digital virus called Mother's Tongue.
It infected all smart implants tied to ValeCorp's tech—neural enhancers, oculars, spine ports—and began rewriting memory.
Victims woke up believing Aeris was a tyrant, a butcher, a false sovereign.
Some tore out their implants with their bare hands.
Lucien brought her the first infected: a former child soldier Aeris had rescued, now frothing at the mouth, screaming her name like a curse.
She euthanized him herself.
Cold. Quiet. Efficient.
"What's next?" Lucien asked.
"We break her myth," Aeris replied.
>"You mean Seraphine?"
"I mean Mother's Tongue."
---
The counterattack was ruthless.
Aeris released the full, unredacted files of Project Sovereign to the global net.
Every test. Every violation. Every atrocity.
Every crime committed by her mother—and by those who funded her.
It was a bloodletting.
Senators resigned.
Scientists vanished.
The UN froze.
And then Aeris did what no one expected—
She claimed it.
"Yes," she said during a surprise broadcast. "I was the blade my mother forged. And I cut her throat with it. So none of you would have to."
Her voice didn't tremble. Her eyes didn't soften.
"You fear what I am? Good. You should. Because I survived what you created. And I will never let another girl bleed for your legacy again."
---
The world fell silent.
And then it began to turn again.
Not against her.
But toward her.
---
Seraphine, watching from her black citadel, screamed.
Aeris had done what she never could.
She had owned the fire.
---
Later that night.
Lucien poured Aeris a drink.
She took it. Sipped. Then looked at him.
"You saw the footage," she said.
"Of you killing her?"
"Yes."
"I always knew."
"And you stayed?"
"I didn't stay," Lucien said, his voice dark and quiet. "I chose you. Every moment. Every time."
She didn't speak.
But she reached for his hand.
For once, it wasn't a weapon.
It was hers.
---
Seraphine still lived.
The Crownless still marched.
But in that moment, beneath a burning sky and a fractured world—
Aeris Vale stood untouchable.
And beside her, the man who had loved the monster in her before she became a queen.