📍 Chapter 84 – The Sister in Silk
It began with a letter.
No courier.
No seal.
Just a folded piece of parchment left on Zara's pillow.
No one knew how it got there.
No one heard the footsteps.
Only the words mattered now.
In looping violet ink:
> "Dearest Zara,
>
> Did you really think I'd let you keep him?
>
> I taught you better than that.
>
> See you soon.
>
> – Selene"
---
Zara didn't flinch when she read it.
She burned the letter in her palm.
Then turned to Leva.
"She's alive."
Leva nodded once, lips pressed.
"And close."
---
Selene.
The woman who once held Zara's hand when her mother died.
Who whispered stories into her ear during stormy nights.
Who taught her how to lie with a smile, and fight with grace.
They were not sisters by blood.
But closer than most.
Until the day Selene vanished.
Twelve hours after Zara became queen.
And three bodies were found in the river.
---
Cress gathered the inner circle.
"She calls herself the Velvet Blade now. Sells wars like perfume. Leads assassins dressed in lace."
Zaire added, "She broke the Eastern treaty. Turned an entire empire into her stage."
Auren whispered, "She never works alone. She's already inside."
Zara nodded.
"She always starts with a whisper. Then a waltz. Then a wound."
---
That night, the city celebrated Zara's victory over Malrik.
Torchlight. Music. Food.
Children wore crowns made of straw.
Kaelen clapped at every spark that lit the sky.
Zara smiled with him.
But her hand never left the dagger at her hip.
Because Selene never attacked in silence.
She attacked during celebration.
---
At midnight, a scream broke the air.
Not near the gates.
Near the nursery.
Zara ran.
So did everyone else.
What they found made Leva fall to her knees.
The nursemaid lay crumpled at the door, blood in her mouth.
The cradle was empty.
Kaelen was gone.
---
Zara didn't scream.
She didn't cry.
She didn't ask.
She stepped over the nursemaid's body, blade drawn, and looked out the open window.
A single red ribbon danced in the breeze.
Selene's signature.
---
Then another scream.
From the tower.
Zaire's voice.
Zara sprinted up six flights, lungs burning.
There, on the rooftop garden, stood Selene.
Not in armor.
In silk.
Black lace. Blood-red sash. Barefoot.
And Kaelen… in her arms.
Sleeping.
Selene smiled like they were children again.
"Still too slow, little lion."
---
Zara raised her blade.
"Put him down."
Selene sighed.
"Not even a hello?"
"Put him down."
Selene walked in slow circles.
"The boy's perfect, you know. Sharp chin. Steady breath. Strong pulse. He's wasted on palace halls and treaty scrolls."
Zara didn't move.
"Why now?"
Selene laughed.
"Because you chose the throne. And left the blade behind."
---
Zara took one step forward.
Selene raised a finger.
"Careful. I'm feeling fragile tonight. One wrong move, and I drop him. And I don't miss the ground."
Zara's eyes filled with fire.
"You want ransom?"
"I want legacy."
Zara frowned.
Selene continued, her voice a song.
"You rule the North. Venmire's broken. The East is in flames. But the Hollow? The Hollow remembers who *really* raised you. And they'll follow me."
Zara said nothing.
Selene's eyes sparkled.
"I'm not here to kill him, Zara. I'm here to crown him."
---
Auren arrived at the doorway.
So did Zaire. Cress. Ten guards.
But none moved.
Because Kaelen was still asleep.
Balanced in the arms of a woman who danced with death.
Selene whispered, "You named him Kaelen. But that's not who he is. He's legacy. He's revolution. He's *ours*."
Zara's voice dropped.
"He's mine."
"No," Selene corrected. "He's *the realm's*. I'm just the first to admit it."
---
Then something unexpected.
Kaelen stirred.
Eyes opened.
Looked at Selene.
And **cried**.
Not just a whimper.
A full scream.
Reaching arms.
For Zara.
Selene froze.
Just a second.
But it was enough.
Zara moved.
So fast.
No warning.
Blade to shoulder.
Selene dropped Kaelen.
Zara caught him mid-fall.
Spun. Curled around him.
Protected.
Zaire charged.
Selene vanished.
---
The rooftop went silent.
Only Kaelen's sobs.
Only Zara's breath.
Only the wind.
Cress knelt beside them.
"She's gone."
Zara nodded.
"She'll try again."
Auren whispered, "She left something behind."
Zara turned.
Where Selene had stood…
Was a **map**.
Marked in blood.
> The Hollow.
> Three towns circled.
> One phrase beneath it all:
>
> "He will rule, with or without you."
---
By dawn, Zara had made her choice.
She summoned the council.
Broke the treaty with the Western Lords.
Declared the Hollow a sovereign kingdom under royal protection.
And named Kaelen its first heir.
No regent. No puppet.
Zara herself would serve as Guardian Queen.
She would **not** let Selene crown her child in her absence.
---
That night, in the throne room, Zara stood alone.
Kaelen asleep against her chest.
She looked out the stained-glass window and whispered:
> "You had my heart once, Selene.
>
> But you won't have my son.
>
> Come again… and I'll bury you myself."
And from the hills beyond the forest, a red silk ribbon flew again.
Carried by wind.
Carried by fate.