The ridge still smelled of ozone and blood when the first shouts broke out.

Aiden stayed on his knees for three full heartbeats, golden eyes locked on Catherine. The Empress’s arm was tight around his waist, her body molded against his side so every soldier on the lower slope could see it.

Her fingers pressed just under the torn edge of his shirt, right where the newest fracture lines glowed faint silver across his ribs.

Catherine didn’t blink. "The bond is suspended. No more surges through us until you choose. Until you treat us as your equals, not your tools."

Sabrina stood half a step behind her, chin high, voice flat. "That includes the girls. They’re done bleeding for your fractures."

The silence lasted maybe two seconds.

Then the camp exploded.

Lord Merrick’s voice cracked like a whip from the command group. "Arrest them! Right now! They just crippled the only weapon we have left!"

A captain from the eastern flank shoved forward. "You cut the surges and we’re all dead by nightfall. You want to explain that to the men whose families are behind us?"

More voices piled on. Some demanded chains. Others warned that ripping the bond raw would shatter Aiden worse than any rift. Boots scraped dirt. Hands hovered near sword hilts.

Aiden tried to stand. Pain lanced up his spine the moment he put weight on his legs. A fresh tremor rolled through the ground, and the strain in the bond answered like a hammer to an old bruise. He staggered.

The Empress caught him before he fell, sliding her hand fully under his shirt this time, palm flat against bare skin. The contact steadied the worst of the echo immediately.

She spoke loud enough for the nearest thirty men to hear. "Let me carry what they refuse."

Her voice was calm, almost gentle. The troops closest to the ridge shifted. A few nodded. A few looked sick.

Aiden’s jaw clenched so hard the muscle jumped. Golden eyes flicked from Catherine to the Empress and back. He said nothing. He didn’t have the breath for it yet.

Down in the lower camp, the four women were already being herded toward a guarded corner by wary soldiers. No chains, not yet. Just spears pointed politely at the ground and hard eyes that said the mood could change fast.

Flora’s face was wet. She kept wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand like she was angry at the tears themselves. Luna walked beside her, shoulders tight, eyes darting everywhere.

Catherine stopped at the edge of the cleared space and turned on her daughter. "Stop crying. This is protection."

"Protection?" Flora’s voice cracked. "You hugged me twice in two days. Twice. And now you want to cut the only thing that ever made us strong? What if he dies because of us? What if the whole camp dies?"

Catherine’s face didn’t soften. "I’d rather watch him break than watch you break. I’ve watched you scream through surges for months. I’m done."

Sabrina stood a few paces away, arms crossed. Luna stepped close to her mother, voice low and shaking. "The Empress looks like she’s already won. You see how she’s holding him up there? Like she owns the view."

Sabrina didn’t answer right away. When she did, her words came out tired. "It hurts me too, Luna. The old pull is still there. But if keeping you safe means he has to feel every fracture alone for a while... then that’s the price."

Isolde appeared from between two supply wagons like she’d been waiting for the exact right moment. She leaned against a post, casual as a market gossip.

To a cluster of wavering infantry she said, "The mothers just cut the power that was keeping the monsters back. Who do you think pays for that when the next wave hits?"

A junior officer nearby muttered something about loyalty. Isolde turned to him with a sweet smile. "Only one woman in this camp never flinches when he surges. Think about that before you pick a side."

She slipped away again before anyone could grab her.

In the command tent twenty minutes later the air was thick enough to choke on.

Aiden sat at the head of the table, white hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. The Empress sat shoulder-to-shoulder with him, her chair pulled so close their arms touched. Her hand rested openly on his forearm, thumb tracing slow circles over the fabric. Every noble in the room noticed.

Catherine and Sabrina stood across the table, not offered seats. Flora and Luna had been left outside under guard.

Catherine spoke first, voice steady. "The suspension stands. Restore us to full status—real status—or we stay cut off."

Lord Merrick slammed a fist on the table. "This is treason. Declare them outlaws and be done with it." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The Empress answered before Aiden could. "Not yet. They are confined to camp under watch. Their daughters remain protected. We do not need more enemies inside the walls while Varen marches."

She turned her head slightly toward Aiden, voice dropping but still loud enough for the whole tent. "A regency council, for the duration of the crisis. You and I sharing command. It will steady the troops. Show unity."

Aiden’s golden eyes narrowed. He looked like he wanted to argue. A new tremor rolled through the ground outside. The echo hit him harder than before—without the harem to bleed off the pressure, the pain rebounded straight into his bones. His breath hissed between his teeth.

The Empress’s hand tightened on his arm. She leaned in, forehead nearly touching his temple. "Breathe. I’m here."

Half the nobles looked uncomfortable. The other half looked relieved.

Aiden forced the words out. "No arrests. Confinement only. Council... we’ll discuss it."

Catherine’s eyes flashed. "You’re letting her carve pieces off you while we stand here like prisoners."

The Empress smiled, small and calm. "I’m offering to carry the weight you dropped. The Empire doesn’t have time for your family quarrel."

Before anyone could answer, horns blared from the eastern edge of camp.

Monsters.

Not a full wave, but enough—twisted wolf-like things spilling through a fresh crack in the ground. The rift was reforming faster than anyone expected.

Soldiers rushed to form lines. The harem women were ordered to stay back. Catherine started forward anyway; a spear shaft blocked her path.

"Orders from the ridge," the sergeant said, voice tight. "You’re suspended. Stay put."

Flora grabbed her mother’s sleeve. "We’re just supposed to watch them die?"

Catherine’s jaw worked. She said nothing.

On the ridge, Aiden and the Empress moved together. When he pulled power for the surge, the pain hit him alone. His knees buckled. The Empress caught him fully this time, arms locked around his torso, bodies pressed chest to chest in full view of every man who could see the ridge.

She held him through the worst of it, whispering something against his ear that made his shoulders ease a fraction.

Troops cheered. Others cursed the harem’s names.

A fistfight broke out near the supply wagons—pro-harem veterans against men who’d heard too many of Isolde’s whispers. It took three officers to pull them apart.

Inside the tent the emergency council dissolved into shouting as runners brought reports. The Empress never left Aiden’s side. Her hand stayed on him like a claim.

Later, after the small incursion was beaten back at the cost of nine dead soldiers, Catherine found a moment alone with Aiden near the command tent. The Empress stood three paces away, watching openly.

Catherine kept her voice low. "The bond stays suspended until the pairs are restored to full status and the foreign threat is dragged into the open. No more hiding what those amulets mean. No more letting her play wife in front of the army."

Aiden’s golden eyes were exhausted, but the anger still burned. "You’re forcing my hand at the worst possible time."

"I’m forcing you to choose who you actually trust," Catherine said. She looked at the Empress. "And who’s using you."

As Catherine turned to leave, the Empress stepped close to Aiden again. She caught his chin gently, turning his face toward hers until their foreheads almost touched.

"They just made you choose between them and the Empire," she murmured. "Choose wisely."

On the horizon the largest rift pulsed, bigger than before. Varen’s army was one day closer.

Dawn came red and ugly.

The largest rift tore wider with a sound like splitting stone. Monsters poured out in coordinated packs—tendrils of black energy lashing specifically toward anyone who still carried old fracture marks. Aiden. The harem women. Even a few veteran soldiers who’d been close during previous surges.

At the same moment, Varen’s probing force slammed into the western and southern perimeters. Foreign mages in their ranks used stolen amulets to rip open small secondary rifts inside the camp itself. Chaos bloomed in seconds.

Aiden and the Empress took the ridge again.

This time there was nothing subtle about it. She issued orders in his name, voice carrying over the din. "Unified command until the threat is ended. Hold the line!"

When Aiden pulled for a surge, the absence of the harem hit like a missing limb. Pain rebounded straight into his chest. He dropped to one knee, breath ragged. The Empress moved instantly, wrapping both arms around him from the front, bodies locked tight. She took some of the pressure, steadying him while he pushed power outward.

"I’m still here," she whispered against his neck, loud enough for the nearest officers to hear. "Always."

Troops on the slope cheered the sight. Others shouted curses at the harem’s sector.

Down below, monsters broke into the confined area where Catherine, Sabrina, Flora, and Luna had been kept under watch.

Catherine fought with cold efficiency, sword flashing as she protected Flora’s flank. No echoed pain from Aiden this time—the suspension was working—but the camp’s screams carried on the wind.

Flora parried a lashing tendril and yelled over her shoulder. "We’re watching them die because of us! Because you’re scared!"

Catherine’s face twisted. "I’m scared for you. Not for him."

Luna dragged a bleeding Sabrina behind an overturned wagon. "If we stay out here, the Empress wins everything. She’s up there playing hero with him while we hide."

Sabrina’s hardness cracked. Blood ran down her arm. She looked at her daughter and admitted it raw. "I still feel the pull toward him. Even now. But I won’t let you pay the price I paid."

A group of nobles tried to force a "vote" right on the ridge while monsters still surged. They climbed halfway up, shouting that the harem should be stripped of all status immediately.

Isolde had timed it perfectly. The interruption came exactly when another wave of creatures crested the ridge line.

The Empress didn’t hesitate. She drew a slim dagger and drove it into the throat of the loudest dissenter while still shielding Aiden with her body. Blood sprayed across the dirt. She let the man fall without looking down.

"Unified command," she repeated, voice ice. "Any man who wastes time on politics while the rift is open will join him."

Captured foreign mages, dragged in chains from the perimeter skirmish, laughed from their cages near the command post.

One of them, face bruised but eyes bright, called out toward the harem sector. "Your suspension just made her stronger. The deal is already sealed."

The battle peaked.

Aiden attempted the massive sealing surge alone. The pain nearly killed him. Veins stood out on his neck. His golden eyes rolled back for a second. The Empress held him upright, bodies pressed together in a public spectacle that every soldier would remember. She poured her own power in to help, forehead against his, murmuring steady words while the ground shook.

On the ground, Catherine watched the ridge for three long heartbeats. Flora was panting beside her, covered in black ichor.

Catherine’s voice came out hoarse. "Not for him. For the camp."

She broke the suspension.

Power flooded back through the bond. The surge pain returned instantly, slamming into Flora like a hammer. The girl cried out but kept her feet.

Sabrina followed a second later. Luna took the hit with a strangled gasp.

The extra strength reached Aiden on the ridge. He straightened. The sealing surge finally caught. The worst tear in the rift began to close with a grinding shriek.

The immediate monster wave receded.

Varen’s full army was visible now on the horizon, banners snapping in the wind. One day out at most.

As the dust settled, the Empress stood with her arm openly around Aiden’s waist. She raised her voice so the whole ridge and half the camp could hear.

"I thank the harem for returning to duty when it mattered."

Catherine stepped forward, bloodied, face cold as winter stone. Her voice carried. "We returned for the Empire. Not for either of you."

Flora and Luna stood behind their mothers, eyes hollow.

One of the captured foreign mages started laughing again, low and ugly. "Too late. The deal is already sealed."