Morwen’s hand was cold in Kael’s.
Not from magic.
From forty years of holding a sword.
From forty years of gripping something sharp because it was safer than holding nothing at all.
Kael squeezed gently.
“Welcome,” he said, “to the other side.”
Morwen laughed — a broken, bitter sound.
“There is no other side. There’s just survival.”
“No.” Kael turned to face the scattered soldiers.
They watched from a distance, weapons drawn but uncertain.
“There’s choice. And you just made one.”
The soldiers whispered among themselves.
Their general — their unbeatable, unbreakable general — standing beside the glowing king, holding his hand like a lost child.
“What do we do now?” Morwen asked.
“Now,” Kael said, “we wait for the Emperor to make his next move.”
Dorian and Sera found them an hour later.
They crested the ridge overlooking the valley — and stopped.
The empire’s camp was in ruins.
Tents flattened.
War machines reduced to dust.
Soldiers huddled in groups, confused and leaderless.
And at the center, sitting on a broken catapult beside General Morwen, was Kael.
Eating an apple.
Dorian stared.
“Did you… did you win?” he called down.
Kael looked up.
Waved.
“I’m having breakfast. Want some?”
Dorian turned to Sera.
“Is he serious?”
Sera was already walking down the ridge.
“He’s always been like this. You’ll get used to it.”
Dorian followed, still staring.
By the time they reached the camp, Morwen had stood.
She looked at Dorian — at his silver eyes, his frost-touched skin, the Drowned magic humming through his veins.
“Aeran’s gift,” she said.
Not a question.
Dorian’s hand went to his sword.
“You know about the Drowned?”
“I knew one once.” Morwen’s voice was flat.
“She’s dead now. Because of me.”
The silence was heavy.
Kael stood.
Brushed sand from his tunic.
“Morwen is going to help us,” Kael said.
Dorian raised an eyebrow.
“Help us what? Surrender?”
“Help us defeat the Emperor.”
Dorian laughed.
Then stopped when he realized no one else was laughing.
“You’re serious.”
“I’m always serious,” Kael said.
“You ate an apple while standing in the middle of a destroyed enemy camp.”
“Apples are serious.”
Sera snorted.
Dorian ran a hand through his hair.
“Okay. Fine. Let’s say I believe this. How does the Emperor’s general help us defeat the Emperor?” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Morwen met his eyes.
“Because I know his weaknesses,” she said.
“His fears. His secrets. The things he’s buried under the palace.”
“What things?”
Morwen’s expression darkened.
“His first love,” she said.
“A man. A Drowned man. The Emperor had him executed forty years ago. And he’s been trying to erase the memory ever since.”
Dorian went still.
“The Emperor,” he said slowly, “is gay?”
“The Emperor is a hypocrite,” Morwen said.
“He built his empire on the lie that love between men is a sickness. Because he couldn’t bear to face his own heart.”
Kael’s eyes blazed gold.
“Then that’s how we win,” he said.
“We don’t fight his army. We fight his lie.”
They made camp at the edge of the valley.
The empire’s soldiers — five thousand of them — had not fled.
They had simply… waited.
Watching.
Unsure who to follow now that their general had switched sides.
Kael stood on a hill overlooking them.
Dorian stood beside him.
Sera on his other side.
Morwen behind.
“What are you going to say to them?” Dorian asked.
“The truth,” Kael said.
He raised his hands.
Golden light blazed from his palms — not threatening, not attacking.
Just present.
Warm.
The soldiers looked up.
“I am Kael,” he said.
His voice carried — not because he shouted, but because the throne’s magic amplified every word.
“I am the king of the risen city. The one the empire told you was a myth.”
The soldiers shifted nervously.
“You’ve been told that the Drowned were evil. That their love was a sickness. That their city deserved to be swallowed by the sea.”
He paused.
“Those were lies.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“I was raised in the empire,” Kael continued.
“I was taught the same lies. I was taught to be ashamed of who I am. Who I love.”
He reached for Dorian’s hand.
Dorian took it.
Held it high.
The soldiers stared.
“I love this man,” Kael said.
“And that love is not a sickness. It is not a sin. It is not a crime. It is truth. And truth is the only magic that matters.”
Silence.
Then, somewhere in the back of the crowd, a young soldier lowered his sword.
Then another.
Then another.
Morwen stepped forward.
“I served the Emperor for forty years,” she said.
Her voice was rough.
“I killed for him. Burned for him. Lied for him. Because I was afraid.”
She looked at the soldiers — her soldiers.
“I’m not afraid anymore.”
The soldiers exchanged glances.
And then — slowly, one by one — they knelt.
Not to Morwen.
To Kael.
Dorian squeezed Kael’s hand.
“You did it,” he whispered.
“We did it,” Kael whispered back.
Sera was crying.
She wiped her eyes angrily.
“Stop looking at me,” she muttered.
Kael laughed.
The sun rose over the valley.
And five thousand soldiers — former enemies — pledged themselves to a king who had won them with nothing but the truth.
That night, Kael and Dorian stood alone on the hill.
The camp was quiet.
The soldiers slept.
Morwen sat by a fire, talking quietly with Sera.
“She’s going to be okay,” Dorian said, nodding toward Sera.
Kael nodded.
“She’s stronger than she knows.”
“Like someone else I know.”
Kael looked at Dorian.
The moonlight caught his silver eyes, his frost-touched skin, the scar that Kael had come to love.
“You’re staring again,” Dorian said.
“You’re worth staring at.”
Dorian’s cheeks flushed — even with the Drowned magic, even with everything, he still blushed.
Kael stepped closer.
“Tomorrow,” Kael said, “we march on the capital.”
“Tomorrow,” Dorian agreed.
“We could die.”
“We could live.”
Kael’s hand found Dorian’s chest.
Felt his heartbeat.
“I love you,” Kael said.
“I love you too.”
They kissed — slow and deep and desperate.
The world fell away.
The soldiers, the war, the Emperor, the lies.
Just them.
Just this.
When they finally pulled apart, Dorian’s forehead rested against Kael’s.
“No matter what happens tomorrow,” Dorian said, “I’m glad I met you in that cave.”
“You tried to scare me away.”
“I was an idiot.”
“You were scared.”
Dorian laughed.
“I was terrified. You looked at me like I was something worth saving.”
Kael kissed him again.
“Because you are,” Kael said.
They stayed on the hill until dawn, wrapped in each other, watching the stars fade.
Tomorrow, war.
Tonight, love.