📍 Chapter 90 – The Son of Shadows
The rebellion didn't start with fire.
It started with a song.
Low. Haunting. Sung in children's voices.
Carried through the wind.
From the Hollow.
To the palace.
Auren froze mid-sentence.
Zaire dropped his goblet.
Even Leva, calm and watchful, stood still.
Zara heard it last.
While holding Kaelen on the balcony.
A lullaby she didn't know.
But Kaelen did.
He turned toward the sound.
Eyes wide.
Breathing faster.
He recognized it.
And that terrified her more than anything else.
---
By nightfall, the song had reached every corner of the capital.
People began lighting candles.
Not for prayer.
For **waiting.**
The Hollow was coming.
And leading them… was a name no one had spoken in ten years.
**Silas.**
Selene's firstborn.
The boy she raised in secret.
Trained in silence.
Hidden even from her assassins.
Now a man.
Now a storm.
---
Zara gathered her council.
Auren spread out the war map.
Zaire sharpened a dagger as he spoke.
"Silas isn't coming to talk. He's coming for the boy."
Leva added, "Not to kill. To take."
Zara stared at the map.
At the trail of disappearances from the eastern villages.
Families gone. Carts stolen. Armories emptied.
All leading toward the palace.
---
Auren whispered, "He's building a shadow army."
Zara didn't flinch.
"Then we shine a light."
She stood.
"Seal the lower gates. Pull Kaelen from the sanctum. I want him in my arms at dawn."
---
But it was too late.
The gate never fell.
Because it was **opened.**
From the inside.
By a boy with pale skin and no name.
One of Selene's "children."
He slipped through the halls and unlatched the west lock.
And let **Silas** walk in.
---
He didn't wear a crown.
Didn't carry a sword.
He wore a simple coat.
Dark grey.
And walked like he owned every shadow in the palace.
No guards challenged him.
Those who did were already asleep.
From poisoned bread.
Or silenced wine.
---
He walked straight into the nursery.
Saw Kaelen sleeping.
Saw Zara sitting beside the cradle.
Waiting.
Holding a dagger.
Pointed at his chest.
---
Silas stopped at the doorway.
"You stayed."
Zara nodded once.
"I always do."
---
He stepped forward.
No fear.
No anger.
Just a strange kind of awe.
"He's smaller than I thought."
Zara didn't move.
"Leave."
Silas smiled.
"I'm not here to kill you. Not yet. I came to see him."
He took another step.
And Zara raised the dagger higher.
> "I know your mother.
> I know your blood.
> And if you take one more step—
>
> I will end your legacy here and now."
---
Silas held up his hands.
"No blade. No threat. Just truth."
Zara stared at him.
"You're her son."
He nodded.
"She trained me to make kings."
"Then why try to steal one?"
He smiled faintly.
> "Because you'll teach him how to hide.
>
> I'll teach him how to *reign.*"
---
Zaire burst into the room.
Blade drawn.
But Silas didn't flinch.
He looked at Kaelen again.
"I know a boy who never cried. That was me. I was told it made me weak."
He looked at Zara.
"He cries, doesn't he?"
Zara's voice softened.
"When he's scared."
Silas tilted his head.
"Then let me take him. Before the world teaches him not to."
---
Zara stood slowly.
Still between them.
Still holding the dagger.
"He's not yours."
"He's not just yours either."
Zaire lunged.
But Silas disappeared.
A trick of shadows.
Gone through the corridor before the blade could reach.
---
Alarms rang.
The palace woke.
Guards rushed to Zara's side.
But she only held Kaelen tighter.
Because the real war hadn't begun.
It was only whispering.
---
A message arrived an hour later.
Left on her pillow.
In Selene's handwriting.
> "Silas is patient.
> And unlike me,
>
> He doesn't need your crown.
>
> He just needs your son
> to **doubt you** once."
---
Zara summoned every captain.
Locked the palace from inside.
Moved Kaelen to a new chamber.
Then to another.
Each time, she felt eyes.
Each time, she knew —
The walls themselves were listening now.
---
That night, Zara didn't sleep.
She rocked Kaelen softly.
And whispered:
> "They won't stop until they have you.
>
> Not your blood. Not your body.
>
> Just your *belief.*
>
> Don't give it to them."
Kaelen reached up in his sleep.
Touched her face.
And smiled.
Zara didn't cry.
But for the first time in months…
She **shook.**
Because Silas had seen him.
And somehow…
Kaelen had recognized him too.