Firelonia slept under a curtain of quiet dawn, but the palace did not. Whispers of the Queen's sudden defense of the King, the Council's division, and the mysterious ash-ring all spread through the corridors like sparks carried by wind.
Bao Bao had barely slept.
Not because of fear.
But because of the moment he could not escape.
Naelith's kiss.
Soft.
Unexpected.
Gentle in a way he had never seen from her.
Yet it did not settle his heart.
If anything, it made it more troubled.
—
The Queen met him in the Dawnspire Hall, where golden banners hung heavy from the ceiling.
Naelith looked composed, elegant, unreadable—as she always did—but there was something different in her eyes. Not apology. Not boldness. Something quieter.
"We must speak of what happened," she said.
Bao Bao exhaled. "Yes."
Silence stretched, taut as a drawn bowstring.
Naelith lowered her gaze for the first time in their marriage. "Yesterday… I allowed emotion to guide my actions."
"It wasn't wrong," Bao Bao said carefully. "It was simply unexpected."
"Unexpected," she repeated softly, as if tasting the word. "I know you do not feel the same."
Bao Bao hesitated.
Naelith's voice grew sharper, more precise. "You need not pretend. I have watched the way you listen to Veylara. You trust her judgment more than the Council's. More than mine. And your eyes…" She stopped. "…your eyes soften around her."
Bao Bao stiffened—not out of guilt, but because she had seen what he had tried not to see in himself.
Naelith met his gaze, unflinching. "I will not punish you for what your heart chooses. But I will not be the queen who ignores the truth."
Bao Bao's throat tightened. "Naelith—"
She lifted a hand. "I am not asking for a declaration. Only honesty."
—
Outside, in the training courtyard of the Sunshadow, Veylara felt a shift.
Not in the wind.
Not in the shadows she commanded so easily.
But in the King.
He carried a distance today—not avoidance, but conflict. His steps were heavier, his expression clouded. Something had happened in the palace.
When he approached, she bowed. "My King. You look troubled."
Bao Bao studied her for a long moment. The calm confidence in her stance. The clarity in her eyes. The way she seemed unbreakable yet gentle.
"I am," he admitted. "The Council tears itself apart. The markings on the Plains have shaken Firelonia. And I…"
He stopped.
Veylara waited.
"I am seeing truths I did not wish to face."
Her expression softened slightly. "You are not required to carry them alone."
Those words.
Those simple words.
They struck deeper than Naelith's kiss.
He realized then why the Queen's affection had unsettled him.
Because affection without trust felt hollow.
But Veylara…
Her loyalty had never been demanded.
Never forced.
Never political.
It was chosen.
—
That afternoon, the Council shattered.
High Magister Levrin slammed a fist on the table. "The Queen overstepped protocol! She dismissed half the Council's concerns without vote!"
"And the King hides evidence that may endanger us all!" shouted Minister Sorell.
Voices collided, rising into chaos.
A group of ministers declared support for Naelith and Bao Bao.
Another faction broke away, forming an opposition bloc that whispered of limitations to the crown's power.
When Naelith entered the chamber, conversation died instantly.
"You accuse me of breaking protocol," she said calmly. "Yet you would see Firelonia fall rather than shift your old ways."
Sorell's eyes flashed with bitterness. "The people see you changing, my Queen. They speak of your… attachment to the King."
A deliberate provocation.
Bao Bao stepped forward, fire simmering in his presence—but Naelith held out a hand, stopping him.
"The Council will not speak of my personal life," she said. "You will discuss the threat on our borders."
"And if we refuse?" Sorell asked.
"Then I will replace you."
The chamber froze.
That was the moment the Council fractured for good.
—
Night fell heavy over Firelonia.
On the balcony of the Sunspire, Bao Bao stood beneath the stars, Veylara beside him. She had been summoned because another marking had been found—this one inside Firelonia's borders.
The Starless Legion was no longer rumor.
"They are moving too quickly," she said, studying the pattern burnt into the scroll.
"Yes," Bao Bao murmured. "And they leave no trace. As if they are not… alive."
A tremor of cold swept over the balcony, as though a star had gone out somewhere far beyond sight.
Veylara looked carefully at the King. "Your mind is elsewhere."
He didn't answer.
She turned toward him fully, her voice quiet but steady. "Whatever the Queen said to you, whatever happened between you two… it should not isolate you. You lead Firelonia. But you do not lead it alone."
Those words again.
That same steady strength.
It hit him like clarity.
He finally understood why his heart had been restless:
Naelith kissed him.
But Veylara changed him.
Naelith wanted partnership.
Veylara inspired it.
Naelith respected his crown.
Veylara respected his soul.
The realization struck deep and irrevocable.
He loved Veylara.
Not in a sudden, dramatic sweep.
But in all the small ways he had tried to ignore:
The way he trusted her.
The way he relied on her.
The way he found balance in her presence.
He turned toward her, breath tight with the weight of truth.
"Veylara…" he said quietly.
She looked up at him.
Before he could speak, a deep rumble echoed through the city—far off, but powerful enough to shake the balcony doors.
On the horizon, a black column of light rose into the sky.
Silent.
Cold.
Starless.
"Their first true appearance," Veylara whispered.
Bao Bao clenched his fists around the Sunblade. "Firelonia goes to war."
And though the world trembled around them, one truth stayed firm in his heart:
It wasn't the Queen he thought of when danger approached.
It was her.
Veylara.
The woman who walked beside his light without fear.