Seina’s sword dripped crimson as she stalked through Ravenwatch’s shattered halls. Bodies of soldiers—hers and Annora’s—littered the floor. The Triangle had pushed through the stronghold, leaving fire in their wake. But the cost... the cost had teeth.
Miro was gone.
One final arrow, through the heart, while shielding a wounded boy from Annora’s bloodguard. Seina had no tears left. Only vengeance.
She kicked open the final door.
Annora stood before the Raven Throne. Dressed in black, bone-pinned curls cascading around her shoulders, she looked more priestess than queen. A dagger in each hand.
“You came,” she said, as if greeting an old friend.
“You killed everyone I ever loved.”
Annora tilted her head. “And still, he chose me.”
Seina lunged.
Their blades met with a shriek of metal. The duel tore through the throne room—fire licking at tapestries, glass shattering underfoot. Kaydence burst through the smoke, bloodied but alive.
Annora sneered. “Of course, he came. You never could do anything without him.”
Seina struck harder.
“You don’t get to talk about him.”
“Why? Because you think he loves you now? You’re a shadow. A wound he keeps picking.”
“I’m the truth,” Seina growled. “You’re the lie that refused to die.”
With a cry, Seina drove her blade into Annora’s chest.
The dagger clattered from her enemy’s hand. Annora collapsed, coughing blood, lips twisting into a final smirk.
“Even now,” she whispered, “you look just like her.”
Silence.
Then a scream—from above.
The ceiling cracked.
The wraith dropped from the rafters, eyes blazing. But instead of attacking Seina, he fell to one knee before her.
“You wore the crown,” he rasped. “The real one. Forgive me.”
Seina stared. “Why?”
He bowed lower. “Because now... the Bone Crown is coming.”
The fires of Ravenwatch still smoldered, painting the night sky in shades of vengeance. Seina stood over Annora’s lifeless body, her blade slick with the blood of a woman who once stole everything. Kaydence gripped her shoulder from behind, steady and silent.
“She’s dead,” he said. “It should feel like victory.”
Seina didn’t respond. Her eyes were fixed on the floor beneath the Raven Throne—an engraving hidden under years of dust and ash. A symbol she now recognized.
The triangle.
“She knew,” Seina whispered. “Even at the end, she feared the truth.”
Kaydence stepped beside her, brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Seina brushed the soot away, revealing the words etched beneath the sigil:
The crown was never meant to rule. Only to protect.
“She wasn’t the end,” Seina muttered. “She was the warning.”
The wraith stood just beyond the circle of torchlight, chains still clinking with every slight movement. He kept his head bowed, as if unable to meet Seina’s gaze.
“You said the Bone Crown is coming,” Kaydence pressed. “Annora was the Bone Crown.”
The wraith shook his head slowly. “She wore its shell. But the true force... it waits beneath.”
Seina’s eyes narrowed. “Where?”
The wraith raised his hand and pointed eastward. “Beyond the Hollow Sea. The Isle of Veils. Where the first queen was buried. The crown was forged from her bones.”
Kaydence swore under his breath. “And what does it want now?”
The wraith’s voice dropped to a tremble. “To be reborn. To reclaim the blood it once ruled.”
Burning the Throne
They buried Miro that night, wrapped in the banner of the Triangle. His grave overlooked the cliffs beyond Ravenwatch, where the wind never rested. Seina didn’t speak during the ceremony—she simply placed her mother’s dagger on the mound and stepped back.
Then she turned to the throne.
They watched in silence as Seina doused it in oil. A single spark from her blade lit the pyre.
“No more thrones,” she said. “No more crowns of lies.”
As the flames consumed the Raven Throne, shadows twisted against the walls. The past burned away—but something darker stirred in its place.
That night, Seina stood at the edge of the sea. Kaydence joined her, eyes heavy with exhaustion.
“You’re not thinking of going there,” he said.
“I have to,” Seina replied. “If the Bone Crown rises, it won’t stop with her. It’ll keep feeding. Keep haunting. I need to end it where it began.”
Kaydence took her hand, firm and steady. “Then I go with you.”
She didn’t smile. But her fingers tightened in his.
From the shadows behind them, the wraith stepped forward. “You will not return the same. None of us will.”
Lightning split the sky.
Far across the water, the Isle of Veils stirred.
The war wasn’t over.
It was becoming legend.