📍 Chapter 70 – The Man From the Flames
The palace was quieter than usual.
Too quiet.
After the Raven's second attempt on Zara's life, security tripled. Every hallway had eyes. Every dish was tasted. Every scroll opened with gloves.
But the silence now… it didn't feel safe.
It felt *wrong*.
Zara walked the eastern corridor with Leva at her side. Her steps were slow, thoughtful, her hand resting protectively over her belly.
"You're sure the child is unharmed?" Leva asked.
"Yes," Zara replied. "Marna checked twice."
Leva still looked uneasy.
"You shouldn't be walking around."
"I'm not a glass cup, Leva. I'm carrying a storm."
Leva smiled faintly, but her grip on her sword didn't loosen.
They passed two guards and turned into the chapel wing. Zara paused at the stone fountain — once the Queen Mother's favorite place for meditation.
"I was here," Zara murmured, "when they told me she was dead."
Leva was quiet.
Zara's eyes softened.
"She died with secrets I never got to ask about. And I'm afraid I'll do the same to this child."
"You won't," Leva said. "You're too stubborn."
Zara smiled again.
Then the candlelight shifted.
Wind?
No.
**Breath.**
Zara turned slowly.
Someone was there.
A figure in a hood stood in the far corner of the chapel. No one should've been there — no priests, no servants, no visitors.
Leva reacted instantly, sword out, stepping in front of Zara.
"State your name," she demanded.
The figure didn't move.
Zara's heartbeat slowed.
The firelight glinted off something — not metal, not skin.
A scar. A very familiar scar.
Zara's voice came out a whisper.
"…Auren?"
Leva froze.
The hood dropped.
And standing in the candlelight was a man Zara had buried five years ago.
Prince Auren.
Zara's older brother.
Declared **dead** in the fires of the Southern Revolt.
---
Her knees nearly gave out.
"You're— But… how?"
Auren's face was pale. Not from fear. From **grief**.
"I burned," he said softly. "But not enough."
Zara stared at him.
"I saw the bodies. I stood over the graves."
"They never opened the second coffin," Auren replied. "That wasn't me. That was a soldier. Burned too badly to identify."
Zara stepped forward.
"I searched for you."
"I know," he said. "And I watched. From the shadows. For years."
Leva lowered her sword — but didn't sheath it.
"You let her grieve," Leva said. "You let her suffer."
Auren's eyes flashed. "I had no choice."
Zara's voice trembled. "Then why now?"
Auren's lips parted… then he whispered:
"Because I was working for them."
Zara blinked. "What?"
"The Raven," he said. "I joined them. After the fires. After I lost everything."
Zara stepped back.
"No."
"I thought they were right," he said. "That the kingdom needed to fall. That mother was a tyrant. That you would follow in her footsteps."
Zara's heart pounded in her ears.
"You tried to kill me."
"No," Auren said quickly. "I tried to *watch*. I didn't know they would target the child."
Zara's hands curled into fists. "You stood with them. And you watched them kill Elri."
"I didn't order that."
"But you allowed it."
Silence.
Zara looked at Leva.
"Arrest him."
Auren didn't move.
Leva stepped forward, chains in hand.
And then Auren did something Zara hadn't expected.
He dropped to his knees.
"Please," he said. "Don't imprison me. Let me *fight for you now.* Let me undo what I helped them build."
Zara's throat tightened.
"Why should I believe you?"
He looked up, eyes rimmed with exhaustion.
"Because I know who their next assassin is. And she's already inside the palace."
Zara froze.
"Who?"
Auren's voice dropped to a whisper.
"…Marna."
---
Leva's sword was drawn before the name even finished leaving his lips.
Zara stepped back.
"No. That's impossible."
"She poisoned the southern heir last month," Auren said. "It wasn't illness. It was a Raven test. And she passed."
Zara's mind spun.
Marna. The healer. The one who touched her belly every night. The one who whispered lullabies to the unborn child.
"She saved my life twice," Zara said.
"And that made it easier for you to trust her," Auren whispered. "That's how the Raven works. Trust. Then rot."
Zara couldn't breathe.
Auren stood.
"She'll strike within the week. Maybe sooner. I don't know how. But I know the orders have already been sent."
Zara turned to Leva.
"Bring her to me."
"No," Auren said. "Don't confront her. Not yet."
Zara hesitated.
"Why?"
Auren's eyes gleamed.
"Because if we're going to win this war, we need the Raven to think they've already won."
---
That night, Zara didn't sleep.
She lay in bed, eyes wide, watching the shadows dance on the ceiling.
Every whisper.
Every creak.
Every flutter of the candle.
Was **Marna**.
---
By dawn, she'd made her decision.
She would set a trap.
Not for the Raven.
But for the woman who had once sang to her unborn child.
---
đź“Ť **END OF CHAPTER 70**