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**Chapter Twelve: The Hollow Crown**
The storm broke at midnight.
Not in rain, but in wind laced with ash. Virelai's tower shuddered as the skies above peeled open—clouds like bruises, lightning curling across stars that suddenly seemed too quiet.
The Watcher stood at the window of the emberkeeper's chamber, expression carved from worry. Kaelen gripped the hilt of her dagger, her silver eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
"He's moving," she said. "Not just watching anymore."
I felt it too.
A low tremor deep inside me, like the heartbeat of the world had shifted. The pendant burned steadily against my chest, no longer pulsing—a steady glow, like it had chosen me and now waited for *me* to choose something back.
The emberkeeper lit a torch without fire. Just her hand, brushing over the wick, and it flared to life.
"He's coming here," she said. "To test the walls of what you've become. And to remind you of what you lost."
I tried not to let the fear show.
"What does he want?"
"Not the sword. Not the flame." Her voice turned brittle. "He wants *you*."
A gust of wind ripped through the broken windows. From within it—a whisper. A name.
*"Ailani."*
I turned.
He was there. Not fully. Not in flesh.
But in the air, in the smoke, in the flame curling near the floor.
A shadow with eyes like dying suns. A voice like a thousand regrets.
"Ailani," he whispered again. "You are what I could not be. But I made you. You carry my blood… and her fire."
I should've felt hatred.
But what I felt was worse.
Pity.
The Watcher stepped forward. "This place is protected."
The shadow turned toward him. "Not from what made it."
The tower groaned. Embers scattered from the firepit as the structure trembled.
"You want answers, daughter?" the shadow said. "Then come to the city below the flame. Come where I broke the sky."
And then he was gone.
Just air again. Just heat.
Kaelen swore softly. "He's unchained. He's not waiting anymore."
"No," I said, my voice steady.
"He's calling me home."
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