📍 Chapter 88 – The Woman Who Should Be Dead
It began with a horn.
Low. Sharp. From the southern hills.
Not a threat.
A **summon.**
Zara stood on the balcony, Kaelen asleep on her hip.
Leva whispered, "They're not from Venmire. Or the Hollow."
Auren narrowed his eyes. "Southern blood. Black banners with silver threads. That's House Velros."
Zaire flinched. "That's impossible."
Zara turned to him.
"Why?"
He hesitated.
"Because House Velros was *erased* ten years ago."
---
They arrived on golden horses.
Four riders.
Three in black.
One in sapphire blue.
The palace guards didn't stop them — Zara had *ordered* the gates open.
But no one expected this.
The woman who dismounted was tall. Regal. Scar across her lip.
And her face—
Zara froze.
Because she knew it.
She had watched that face get buried beneath rubble after the war of the Southern Isles.
She had mourned her.
And now…
She stood in front of her.
Alive.
Breathing.
Smiling.
---
"Lady Mireya," Auren whispered. "That's *your husband's cousin.*"
Zaire hissed, "No. That's *Kaelen's only living Velros relative.*"
---
Zara descended the steps.
Face calm.
Heart roaring.
Kaelen still in her arms.
"Mireya," she said cautiously.
The woman smiled. "Still lovely, cousin."
Zara's grip tightened. "You died."
Mireya shrugged. "I lived elsewhere."
---
They entered the throne room.
Mireya didn't sit.
She *circled*.
Like a lioness tasting the air.
Zaire stood at Zara's right.
Auren on her left.
The court watched in silence.
Then Mireya turned to Kaelen.
Eyes softening.
"May I?"
Zara stepped back.
"No."
Mireya didn't protest.
She just said:
> "He looks like my brother.
>
> His father.
>
> I came to see if the stories were true."
---
Zara's voice held steel.
"What stories?"
Mireya smiled faintly.
"That he's marked for something greater. That the Hollow has sung of him for years. That Selene wants to crown him. That you want to cage him."
The room stirred.
Zaire stepped forward. "Careful, my lady."
Mireya raised a brow. "Am I not family?"
Zara answered, "You're a ghost. And ghosts don't walk into my court claiming thrones."
---
Silence.
Then Mireya said:
> "I don't want his throne.
> I want to stand beside it.
> To guide him.
>
> You've given him blood.
>
> But I…
>
> I can give him *legacy.*"
---
Zara's fingers curled so tightly around Kaelen's blanket it almost tore.
"You think I haven't given him legacy?"
"I think you've given him fear."
The words hit like a slap.
Zara stepped forward.
"Get to the point."
Mireya didn't blink.
"I'm claiming guardianship rights. Under Velros law."
---
Gasps echoed through the court.
Velros law — old Southern code — allowed any noble of the same blood to *petition for shared guardianship* if the heir's future was under threat.
Zara's voice shook.
"That law was buried with your house."
Mireya smiled.
"I lived. So the law lives too."
---
The court murmured.
Auren whispered, "She's not here to take Kaelen. She's here to *split him.* To make the world see him as *theirs,* not yours alone."
Zaire added, "If you refuse… they'll call you scared. Possessive. Dangerous."
---
Zara walked down the steps slowly.
Kaelen stirred.
Opened his eyes.
Looked at Mireya.
Then buried his face in Zara's chest.
Zara kissed his hair.
Then said softly:
> "Guardianship requires consent. From both parties.
>
> And he just told you what he thinks of that."
---
Mireya didn't move.
But her eyes flicked — just once — to the scribe at the corner of the room.
Then to the open balcony.
A signal.
A message.
Zara's instincts screamed.
She handed Kaelen to Leva, gently.
Then turned just in time to see a flash of motion on the balcony.
A man in blue, pulling a scroll from his sleeve.
Reading aloud.
> "By declaration of the Southern Assembly —
>
> We recognize Kaelen Velros as the Heir of the Forgotten Throne.
>
> And appoint Lady Mireya as his political guardian—"
A flash of steel.
Zaire's blade sliced the scroll in half.
"Wrong court," he growled.
---
Mireya raised her hands in mock surrender.
"Still the same fire, cousin."
Zara's voice dropped.
"Say what you came to say. Fully."
Mireya's eyes sharpened.
"I came to claim my place in his story. Before Selene writes it for me."
---
That night, Zara sat alone with Kaelen in the garden.
He slept peacefully.
But her mind didn't rest.
She looked up at the stars.
Then whispered:
> "First Selene. Now you.
>
> Everyone wants to raise him.
>
> But only I stayed when he cried at 3 a.m.
>
> Only I held him when he was too small to understand fear."
---
Later, Auren approached her.
"They're going to keep coming. With scrolls. With stories. With ancient laws."
Zara nodded.
"Let them come."
Zaire stepped out of the shadows.
"What if one day, he believes them?"
Zara whispered,
> "Then I'll remind him who taught him to walk.
>
> And who taught him to run toward fire."