There are many things I would like to say to Ashborn.
Most of them would not improve diplomacy.
Unfortunately, diplomacy had already died several chapters ago.
We stood in the ruined heart of Solareth beneath a sky the colour of old wounds while black banners moved through broken streets like ghosts that had learnt military discipline.
The royal hall loomed behind us.
Burnt.
Collapsed.
Still somehow proud.
Ahead—
Ashborn waited.
Of course he did.
Black mask.
Dark robes untouched by ash, which felt personally offensive.
Hands folded behind his back like he was attending a historical reenactment instead of reopening collective trauma.
He stood in the old market square beneath the cracked crest of Solareth's open hand.
Symbolism.
Very dramatic.
I hated how committed he was to presentation.
Vira walked forward beside me, sword already drawn.
Captain Rhea and the soldiers spread through the ruined streets behind us, forming a line between the Covenant and the royal hall.
No one spoke.
Because some conversations arrived already bleeding.
Ashborn inclined his head slightly.
"My Lady."
Vira's voice was ice-sharpened by memory.
"You lost the right to call me that."
Good.
Strong start.
He accepted it without argument.
That somehow made him worse.
"I expected you would come."
I crossed my arms.
"He says things like that constantly. It's exhausting."
Rhea muttered behind me—
"I'm starting to understand your hostility."
Finally.
Validation.
Ashborn's gaze shifted to me.
"Bearer of fragments."
I sighed.
"There it is again. Do you practise these introductions?"
He ignored me.
Professional villain.
His attention returned to Vira.
"This city still remembers."
He gestured to the ruins around us.
"The walls. The dead. The children who learnt too late that peace is a negotiation written by the powerful."
Every sentence felt like a knife pretending to be philosophy.
I hated competent villains.
Vira did not flinch.
"You speak of graves like achievements."
Ashborn tilted his head.
"No. I speak of them as lessons."
There it was.
Always.
Control through inevitability.
He stepped forward once.
"Solareth proved what you refuse to admit."
His voice lowered.
"Mercy without force is merely delayed tragedy."
The soldiers behind us shifted.
Not because they agreed.
Because part of them feared he was right.
That was how men like him won.
Not by lies.
By building homes inside people's worst doubts.
I stepped beside Vira.
Close enough.
Because apparently, standing beside emotionally dangerous women had become my full-time profession.
"And what did you learn?" I asked.
Ashborn looked at me.
"That hesitation kills faster than cruelty."
I nodded slowly.
"Convenient belief for someone who never volunteers himself for the fire."
Silence.
Good.
Let it sit there.
He smiled behind the mask.
"I have burnt more than you can imagine."
That—
I believed.
Which made him worse.
Because monsters who thought they were sacrifices were always the hardest to kill.
Vira raised her sword slightly.
"No more speeches."
Her voice cut through the square.
"You stood in my kingdom, fed my enemies, and turned graves into strategy."
The air itself seemed to tense.
"You do not get philosophy."
Only judgement.
Ashborn spread his hands.
"Then let us be practical."
Black mist moved around his feet.
The black banners behind him shifted.
And suddenly—
I understood.
This was never about armies.
He had come for the fragment.
Of course.
Always the fragment.
ARINA flashed violently.
Emergency Alert: Fourth Fragment Seal Destabilising Location: Below Royal Hall Threat: Forced Extraction in Progress
I looked toward the ruined royal hall.
The ground beneath it was glowing.
Black cracks are spreading through the old stone.
No.
Absolutely not.
Ashborn's voice followed calmly.
"While we speak, the fragment remembers fire."
Coward.
Elegant, strategic coward.
He had sent us to the front while his people worked below.
I hated him professionally.
Captain Rhea swore and turned toward the hall.
Vira's expression became terrifyingly still.
"Rhea. Stop them."
The captain moved instantly with half the soldiers.
No hesitation.
Trust.
Always trust.
I started after them—
and Ashborn stepped into my path.
Of course.
Because happiness was illegal.
His hand lifted.
Black chains of mist erupted from the ruined stone around us, cutting across the square.
Walls.
Separation.
The soldiers were cut off.
Rhea shouted something deeply unprintable from the other side.
Valid.
Ashborn looked at me.
"Not this time."
I pointed at him.
"This is why no one invites you anywhere."
He ignored that too.
Consistent.
Vira stepped forward, blade in hand.
Stormfire and old rage were in her eyes.
For the first time since meeting her—
I saw no control.
Not leadership.
Wrath.
Cold.
Personal.
Terrifying.
Good.
Some debts deserved fear.
Ashborn looked at her and said the worst possible thing.
"I was there the night Solareth burnt."
Silence.
Absolute.
Even I stopped moving.
Because no.
Because that meant—
Vira's voice dropped to almost nothing.
"You…"
Not an accusation.
Recognition.
Ashborn nodded once.
"I offered the council another path."
My stomach turned.
No.
He continued.
"They chose sacrifice."
Of course they did.
"And when you obeyed them…"
A pause.
"...I learned how easily good people become architects of ruin."
There it was.
Not random evil.
Origin.
He had not been born the villain.
He had been made by watching the right people choose the wrong peace.
That was worse.
Always worse.
Vira's grip tightened on her sword.
"You watched children burn and called it enlightenment."
"No."
His voice sharpened for the first time.
"I watched rulers decide it was acceptable."
That hit.
Because yes.
That was the difference.
Not destruction.
Permission.
He looked at me.
"Now tell me, outsider—when your turn comes, what will you sacrifice?"
I hated that question.
Because one day, it would stop being philosophy.
And become a choice.
I stepped forward anyway.
"Probably my patience first."
Rhea, somewhere behind the mist wall:
"Marry him or kill him, but decide faster!"
Silence.
Even Ashborn paused.
I blinked.
Vira blinked.
Somewhere, one soldier made a choking sound.
Honestly?
Captain Rhea was becoming one of my favourite people.
Ashborn recovered first.
Unfortunate.
He stepped back.
"Keep your idealism, then."
The black mist around him deepened.
"Solareth will test whether it survives truth."
The ground beneath the royal hall cracked wider.
The fragment was breaking free.
Time was gone.
Vira moved first.
Sword flashing.
She cut through the black chains like judgement finally arriving late but still angry.
I ran.
Toward the royal hall.
Toward the fragment.
Toward the kingdom that still demanded an answer.
Behind me, Vira and Ashborn finally collided—
War and consequence meet in the centre of a grave.
And honestly—
That felt exactly right.