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CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Queen of Ashes
By morning, Crestwood buzzed with whispers.
Tessa Hale had been found injured in a warehouse.
Emily Hale was missing.
And Luke Bennett — the president's golden son — hadn't returned to campus in over twenty-four hours.
The Wolves denied everything.
But their silence only fed the wildfire.
And right in the eye of it stood Emily, bruised, bloodied… and ready.
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They met her in the courtyard at midnight.
Seven figures in black robes.
Seven gold rings.
Seven voices who thought they controlled the Wolves.
She didn't flinch.
"I was told," Emily began, "that power belongs to the ones who bleed for it."
She tossed Tessa's ring to the ground.
Then held up her own — still burning, still loyal.
"I'm not here to follow anymore. I'm here to take what's mine."
One of the elders stepped forward. "And what exactly do you think is yours?"
Emily smiled.
> "The throne. The fire. And your fear."
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Later that night, Emily met Luke beneath the clocktower ruins.
He looked wrecked — dark circles under his eyes, jaw tight.
He handed her a flash drive.
"Project Omega. My father kept the real files off-grid."
She plugged it into her laptop, watching lines of code scroll fast.
Hundreds of names. Experiments. Emotional reconditioning. Control tactics. Brain mapping.
And one video.
She clicked it.
A 14-year-old girl.
Strapped to a chair.
Crying.
Her name labeled on the screen:
> Emily Hale – Tier 1 Subject.
Her breath left her body.
"They were testing on me?" she whispered.
Luke nodded. "You were chosen before you even arrived."
> "You were built to be one of them."
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Emily didn't cry.
Not even when the video showed her screaming.
Not even when she saw her mother's signature at the bottom of the consent form.
Instead, she closed the laptop and whispered, "Good."
Luke blinked. "Good?"
She looked up — and her eyes burned like wildfire.
> "Let them make me a monster. They just forgot who monsters serve when they start thinking for themselves."
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The next day, she returned to the Wolves' inner chamber.
This time, not as a girl.
But as a ruler.
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"By blood and oath," Emily said, voice echoing. "I claim the sixth seat of the Circle."
She slid Tessa's ring onto her finger.
"I have bled. I have been betrayed. And I have survived."
The room watched in silence.
"I invoke Rite of Eclipse. You have one week to prove your loyalty. Or leave."
Gasps. No one had invoked Eclipse in over twenty years.
It meant cleansing.
It meant war.
The elders didn't stop her.
Because fear silenced even the powerful.
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That night, Luke climbed through her dorm window.
"You really think you can lead them?"
She shrugged. "They already follow me. They just don't know it yet."
He studied her like she was a puzzle he still couldn't solve.
"You're dangerous now."
Emily stepped close, lifting his chin with a finger.
"No," she whispered. "I always was. You just kissed the soft parts."
He pulled her closer. "What if I like the sharp ones better?"
They didn't make love that night.
They fought with their bodies — fast, fevered, furious.
And when he kissed her neck, she whispered,
> "If I burn… I'm taking them all with me."
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