Days had passed since the secret burial, yet the wound remained bleeding.

Ashen stood alone in the shadowed royal crypt beneath the palace, the heavy stone door sealed behind him.

Only a few trusted aides knew the truth, that the Crown Prince Alex had been laid to rest in a private ceremony at dawn, with no grand procession, no public mourning, and no chance for enemies to gloat. The realm could not know its Crown Prince was dead.

Ashen’s broad shoulders trembled as he stared at the fresh marble tomb. His fingers traced the engraved name, and the pain hit him like a fresh blade to the heart. Tears hot, angry, and unbidden slid down his cheeks. He did not wipe them away.

"Brother..." His voice cracked in the suffocating silence. Memories flooded him mercilessly, the two of them training in the courtyards as boys,

Alex’s laughter echoing when Ashen first fell from a horse, late-night talks about the burdens of the throne, the way Alex had always stood beside him even when their father’s expectations crushed them both. "I should have protected you. I should have seen the poison sooner."

His knees buckled. He sank to the cold floor, forehead pressed against the marble, fists clenched so tightly that blood trickled from where his claws had pierced his own palms.

The weakness in his body had not faded. Whatever the impostor had done to him that night still lingered an emptiness where power once roared. He felt hollowed out, broken.

A long, guttural sob tore from his chest. "Forgive me..."

Hours later, when he finally emerged from the crypt, the grief had hardened into something far more dangerous: cold, unrelenting fury.

He stormed into the interrogation chamber deep within the palace dungeons. The physician he had met there the day he went to his neither bound in heavy chains and covered in bruises from previous sessions hung from iron manacles. The man’s face was swollen, one eye completely shut.

Ashen grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head back.

"Speak," he growled, voice hoarse from crying. "Who told you to poison my brother? Was it her?"

The physician whimpered, barely conscious. "P-please... Your Majesty... I swear I didn’t know..."

Ashen’s claws extended. He slashed across the man’s chest, not deep enough to kill, but enough to make him scream as his blood sprayed.

"It was his wife! His wife was the one who ordered it... she had told me to bring him back... please forgive me."

Ashen roared, the words exploding out of him. He could no longer hold it in. "You mean that bitch... killed my brother!"

Fury consumed him, he tortured the man mercilessly breaking fingers, burning flesh with controlled bursts of his remaining power until the physician finally confessed through sobs that a mysterious woman matching the queen’s description had delivered the poisoned tonic with orders to make it look natural.

Ashen’s eyes burned with lethal promise. "I will end her."

But before he could storm out to confront the impostor himself, alarms erupted throughout the palace. Horns blared.

Ashen got there and paused for some seconds as she stood in the grand throne hall, black energy swirling around her like living shadows. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

There Alex’s so -called wife stood looking change in a full black with her hands spread sideways.

Her silver eyes glowed with abyssal power. As a daughter of Abyssalands, she had finally dropped all pretenses and summoned forbidden void power. Dark tendrils erupted from the floor, lashing out at guards and nobles alike.

"Men! To arms!" Ero shouted, leading a contingent of elite warriors. Swords clashed and exploded. Several brave soldiers charged at her.

Ashen arrived at the entrance of the hall, still weak but fueled by rage.

"Dragon!" he bellowed, raising one trembling hand at once. The rage inside of him couldn’t be explained.

He tried to summon his most powerful ally, a dragon bound to the royal bloodline. Black mist gathered, but it flickered weakly. His drained power refused to obey fully. The summoning faltered.

She laughed out, a chilling sound that echoed with otherworldly malice. She hurled a spear energy toward Ero and the soldiers fighting beside Ashen.

"Stay back!" Ashen ordered weakly, pushing forward despite the pain tearing through his body.

Then she turned and at once her face changed into that of fake Lumina her expression shifting into something almost tender.

"My love," she cooed, stepping closer with arms outstretched. "Let me heal you.... Are you going to hurt me... oh... You can’t, you love me so much.."

Ashen recoiled violently, slapping her hand away the moment she reached for him. "Do not touch me, monster."

He blocked her next attempt with his forearm, staggering from the effort. His body screamed in protest. The drained power made every movement feel like wading through molten lead.

"Oh... or you want this face." she changed again and this time she was carrying the face of Alex.

"Yo... how... You.." Ashen hit the ground, his heart hammering, he was summoning continuously for the dragons but he felt like he was too weak to do so.

Just as the impostor prepared another devastating spell, a violent surge of pure silver energy ripped through the hall.

Lumina materialized in a whirlwind of radiant silver light and crackling starfire, her black-and-red Drakonis gown billowing dramatically.

Her silver eyes blazed with absolute authority this time there was no blindfold. Without hesitation, she thrust her hand forward. Invisible threads of absolute slammed into the impostor.

She screamed as her body convulsed. Silver chains of enchantress power wrapped around her, tightening mercilessly. Bones cracked. The abyssal shadows around her withered and died.

In one devastating motion, the real Lumina closed her fist.

The impostor’s neck snapped with a sickening sound. Her body dropped lifeless to the floor, reverting to its true shapeshifter form pale, featureless, and grotesque.

A stunned silence fell over the hall as Lumina breathed in and out she dashed toward Ashen about to touch him but then she felt the silence.

Lumina turned slowly, her gaze locking onto a woman who had been hiding behind one of the pillars. Alex’s wife stood frozen, her face drained of all color.

She had been the mastermind behind many of the recent plots, using the shapeshifter to get close to Ashen and poison the Crown Prince.

"Come out." Those two words held no time for negotiation, she could tell Lumina was here to kill.

The two women came face to face.

"You," Lumina said coldly, stepping forward. Silver light danced dangerously around her fingers.

"You killed Alex and sent this creature into my husband’s bed. "

She backed away, terror etched across her features. "Please... Crown Princess... mercy... I... didn’t plan to do that. I only followed orders, don’t kill me please."

Lumina’s lips curved into a merciless smile.

"There is no mercy for those who spill royal blood."