📍 Chapter 66 – The Ghost Who Knocked
It was just after the fourth bell when the knock came.
Three soft taps on the chamber door.
Zara, half-dressed and barefoot, looked up from the scroll she was reading. The storm outside hadn't let up since last night — heavy rain on marble, wind whistling through stone arches, a haunting sound that had become familiar.
Leva wasn't scheduled to report until dawn. Marna had already left her a fresh tonic. Zaire was still in the war room.
So who was knocking at this hour?
Tavi opened the door cautiously.
A man stood there, soaked and silent.
His face — half-shadowed — wore no expression.
But Zara's heart stopped the moment she saw him.
"…Father?"
---
He looked older.
Not in the hair or skin — those were almost unchanged — but in the weight in his eyes. His posture was rigid, like a soldier expecting arrows. He stepped into the room slowly, glancing around like he expected a sword to fall from the ceiling.
Tavi backed away, startled.
Zara stood frozen.
"I heard you were still alive," he said gruffly. "Didn't want to believe it at first."
She couldn't speak.
"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," he added.
Zara blinked once.
And then the dam broke.
"You left me," she whispered. "You let them drag me into a marriage without even trying to stop it. You let Mother die alone."
His jaw tightened. "You think I didn't try?"
"You disappeared," she snapped. "I begged for you. Every night. And now you're here because *you heard* something?"
"I was in hiding," he said. "I was being hunted. Your mother begged me to protect you — but I was a marked man. The Queen sent soldiers after me for what I knew. I couldn't risk leading them to you."
Zara stepped back, arms crossed over her chest.
"I don't trust coincidences," she said coldly. "You show up now — *now*, when my child is being hunted and the Raven is circling?"
"I came to help," he said.
She narrowed her eyes. "Or to spy."
There was a long silence.
Then he reached into his cloak and pulled out a folded map. It was old. Torn. Smudged with dirt and dried wax.
Zara hesitated, then opened it.
Routes.
Trade routes. Underground tunnels. Secret bridges beneath the Northern border wall.
"Where did you get this?"
"I worked for the Raven once," he said quietly. "Years ago. Before they had a name. Before they built the network your Queen Mother relied on. I mapped every smuggling path from the old empire days."
Zara's throat tightened.
"If that's true… then why come now?"
He stepped forward — not close enough to touch, but far enough to be respectful.
"Because your name's on a list," he said. "And not just yours. Your child's. Your husband's. Every loyalist noble tied to your council."
She clenched her jaw.
"Where is this list?"
"Hidden. But I know where they'll take it next."
Zara stared at him, trying to read the truth in his face.
The same man who used to carry her on his shoulders…
…was now the key to breaking the enemy's spine.
Or leading her into a trap.
She didn't know which.
---
She sent for Leva that night.
The moment Leva stepped into the chamber and saw Zara's expression, she paused.
"Someone's cracked your walls," she said.
Zara nodded. "My father."
Leva blinked once. "Alive?"
Zara handed her the map.
Leva scanned it for less than five seconds before muttering, "Gods save us."
"It's real?"
Leva nodded. "Some of these tunnels were scrubbed from royal records two decades ago. Only an insider would know them."
Zara pressed a palm to her stomach. "If they're using these, we're not just exposed. We're naked."
Leva looked up. "You trust him?"
Zara didn't answer right away.
"I trust the map," she said at last.
"And the man?"
"…I'll decide that after we follow the trail."
---
The next day, Zara disguised herself in simple robes and left the palace under the cover of the storm. She took only three with her — Leva, Tavi, and her father.
Zaire argued.
Fought.
Begged her not to go.
But she'd made her choice.
"If I'm going to lead, I need to walk the path they're using to destroy us," she told him. "No more sitting behind walls while they burn the floor beneath my feet."
So they left.
And headed north.
---
The first tunnel was beneath a broken well outside the city walls — exactly where her father had said it would be.
They descended into the dark, through moss-covered stone and narrow stairs. The air was thick with damp and silence.
Zara held a lantern.
Leva walked ahead with her sword drawn.
Her father walked behind them — not trusted with a weapon yet.
Tavi whispered, "This place smells like death."
Zara said nothing.
Because she agreed.
---
They traveled for hours.
Passed through three checkpoints — all abandoned.
But on the fourth, they found it.
A burned wagon.
And beside it — a body.
Zara rushed forward, eyes scanning the scene.
The man was older. Thin. Wearing the uniform of a traveling merchant.
But tucked into his coat was a scrap of parchment — barely intact.
Leva pulled it out carefully.
Zara read the words.
> "To be delivered to the Raven's Eye in Graymoor by the 18th. Full list of confirmed threats. Targets include: Consort Zara. Heir unborn. Lord Venra. Leva the Traitor. Rowen the Scout…"
It was real.
The list.
Her heart skipped.
Then another name appeared — one that made her blood freeze.
> "And the traitor who gave them the map."
She looked up, eyes wide.
Turned to her father.
"You said they didn't know."
His face went blank.
Zara's heart thundered.
Leva stepped forward, sword raised.
Her father's eyes darted to the side — to the exit tunnel.
He moved—
Too fast.
Zara shouted— "Leva!"
Leva struck.
The blade slashed clean through his thigh.
He crumpled with a grunt, blood pouring down his leg.
"You lied," Zara hissed, stepping over him. "You brought us here to clear your own name."
"No—!" he gasped. "I was going to hand them the map… but I changed my mind—I swear it—when I saw you—I couldn't—"
Zara's voice shook with fury.
"You would've sold my child to them. For what? A pardon? A bag of coins?!"
"I was trying to survive!" he cried. "You weren't supposed to survive the palace! I thought—I thought I'd already lost you!"
"You *did* lose me," she said coldly. "The moment you chose yourself over your blood."
He reached for her cloak, but she stepped back.
"Bind him," she told Leva. "He's going to testify in court. Publicly."
"He'll never make it out of the tunnel," Leva muttered. "Too much blood."
Zara looked at the sword wound.
Then looked at the exit.
"Leave him," she said quietly.
Leva's eyes flicked to her — questioning.
Zara didn't blink.
"He chose his side. Let the rats find him."
She turned and walked away, her footsteps echoing.
The sound of a crown made not of gold…
…but of choices that shattered what love used to be.
---
By dawn, she returned to the palace with the list in hand.
The first real weapon in this silent war.
And as she stepped through the gates, her face pale and drenched, the guards stepped aside without a word.
Not because she was royal.
But because she was terrifying.
Because she had become a woman they would follow into the flames…
…not for her title…
…but for the way she walked through fire without ever turning back.