A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.

But in Dwarkam, a Crown is a position.

The highest one.

And Hena was one of them.

But the other Crowns branded her father as a traitor and from that day, she only had one goal.

To clear the name of her father and bring back the glory of Myreth family.

At first, Zane felt no sympathy for the girl but when Jammy knocked some sense and revealed that her father died on the same day as the raid, the gutterborn returned to his right mind.

He apologized for his behavior and Hena told her story to Zane while crying.

She didn’t care about hiding her emotions anymore and Zane didn’t judge her either.

He remained silent and heard every word the girl said.

She was the fourth crown and after father’s death, that spot was empty.

Many families wanted to fulfill that spot and as Hena said there was only one way to do that.

Zane asked with his eyes what was the way and Hena replied:

"My death."

Zane’s brows shot up.

He didn’t speak but what he wanted to say was spoken was Xavier:

"So if I kill you I will become the fourth Crown?"

The Ashbearer asked it as he believed it couldn’t be this simple to become a Crown.

Hena let go of Zane’s collar.

"No. Not exactly." She said. "You have to do some other things to become a Crown. My death is the last step."

"But you said that is the only way?" Zane asked.

He spoke for the first time ever since Hena started speaking.

"This is the only way. Yes."

Zane frowned.

He looked at Xavier and Jammy and the two men were equally confused.

"I thought you both knew about it."

"Well, I know what everyone knows. Not the details." Xavier shrugged.

Jammy nodded in agreement.

Hena wiped her eyes and sighed.

"Do you know how Crowns came to be in the first place?"

Zane nodded.

"Yes. When the rifts opened and riftborns arrived, the first ones to ask for help from the First Flame were later renowned as Crowns. This is what history says at least."

"Yes." Hena said. "After that day, the four Crowns remained unchanged until my father was removed from the seat. The duties of my father were divided between the three Crowns but it isn’t exactly efficient. So they want a new Crown to restore the balance."

No one said anything as Hena carried on.

"They announced to all the Halocrats, Scepters and every single person eligible the rules and regulations to become the fourth Crown to keep the fight equal for everyone."

"Why didn’t I get to hear about this?"

"The announcement wasn’t made in the slums. They did not consider your people in the race."

Zane wasn’t surprised.

"Tell me the rules." He said.

Hena would have shared them anyway.

"The first rule is that the candidate must have a family. Like a father, mother or wife or at least a girl willing to produce offspring. A person who can’t grow his lineage isn’t eligible to become a Crown."

Zane nodded.

Hena carried on.

"The second one is that the candidate must have at least ten families loyal to him or her. Not just people. Families. Like Draxus’ family is loyal to me. The Halocrats have an upper hand in this as they all have many families under them as Scepters."

"What is a Scepter?" Zane asked.

Hena let out a sigh but answered:

"Scepters are the families lesser than Halocrats but still better than the Commoners. They are under the Halocrats. When my family was a Crown, Draxus’ family was Halocrats. But when I fell, Draxus fell as well and became a Scepter. My family had many Halocrat families under us but most of them changed sides. Only Draxus remained."

Zane glanced at the bodyguard.

Draxus averted his eyes and Zane admired the loyalty he had for Hena.

But more than that he now knew about the Scepters so he won’t feel an impostor when it would be talked about anywhere.

After the second rule, Hena went on to speak the third.

"The third rule is that the candidate must have donated at least ten thousand Paper Lumens to any of the Glory Order Church. If the candidate happens to fit all the rules but their donations aren’t enough, they will not become the Crown."

"What are Paper Lumens?"

Hena rested her head on the wall behind her.

Zane scratched the side of his eye.

"I am sorry but I really don’t know. My world began and ended on Milo. So I never thought about learning about this world."

"Paper Lumens are also a currency. The big league. It is also known as Crown Papers." Draxus answered instead of Hena. "One paper lumen is equal to one thousand gold lumens. The Crowns and the Halocrats use it. They take less space. They are efficient and not everyone has it. Simply having them makes you different from the rest of the world."

Zane raised his brows.

"Something like that exist?"

He laughed.

"People will do anything to make themselves feel special."

The next second though, his laughter stopped.

"How can I have it?"

Hena leaned forward.

"You can either find it lying on the road or you might not see it even once in your whole life. It only dances around the richest and gets tired in their arms as well."

Zane shook his head. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"What was I expecting?"

Hena showed no reaction and continued what she was saying.

"The fourth rule is that they must have support of an Emberlord or a Pyrelord behind them. The fifth rule is that they should at least kill five Riftborns of Beast tier and one of Monster tier."

Zane said nothing.

He wanted to know the tiers of the Riftborns but he didn’t try his luck and let Hena continue.

"And the last rule, it was added out of pure spite towards my father. It was not necessary to add this since I am not a Crown now but for some reason they added it."

This, Zane knew.

He leaned forward and instead of Hena, he revealed the sixth rule for getting that throne.

"They must kill you."