Elara stared.
That answer changed everything.
Seraphine laughed.
“Touching.”
Alaric ignored her.
“I followed you because the storm began.”
“You followed me from Grayhaven?”
“Yes.”
“You frightened every horse between here and the capital.”
“I tried staying far away.”
“You are ten feet tall.”
“I know.”
Despite everything, Elara almost laughed.
The Beast’s expression softened.
Just slightly.
For the first time, she saw the man inside.
Not in his face.
In embarrassment.
Seraphine’s voice sliced through the moment.
“You think restraint makes him safe?”
Elara turned.
“It makes him safer than you.”
The Queen’s smile died.
She raised both hands.
The emeralds around her throat began glowing.
Alaric tensed.
“DOWN!”
He threw himself over Elara.
Green light exploded across the hall.
Guards flew backward.
Windows shattered.
Wind tore through the room.
Elara hit the floor beneath Alaric’s massive body, protected by his arms without being crushed.
Nobles screamed.
Candles extinguished.
The Queen stood before the throne surrounded by swirling green fire.
Alaric looked up.
“She still has the crownstone.”
Elara coughed.
“What?”
“The emerald.”
Seraphine touched the massive jewel at her throat.
Not jewelry.
Something older.
Something alive.
The storm outside twisted.
Lightning began striking the palace repeatedly.
Stone cracked.
Seraphine’s voice echoed unnaturally.
“The kingdom needs one ruler.”
Alaric stood.
“So this was always about you.”
“It was about survival.”
“You say that every time you destroy someone.”
The Queen lifted one hand.
Wind slammed into Alaric.
He flew backward.
His enormous body smashed into a pillar.
Elara screamed.
He fell.
Did not move.
Something in her broke.
She stood.
Rain entered through shattered windows.
Her soaked dress whipped around her legs.
Seraphine smiled.
“You feel it now.”
Elara’s hair lifted in the wind.
Thunder rolled.
The Queen continued.
“The storm knows you.”
Elara looked toward Alaric.
His fingers twitched.
Alive.
Seraphine stepped closer.
“Join me.”
Elara stared.
“What?”
“Your mother wasted the power.”
The Queen’s eyes brightened.
“Together we could command every coast from here to the southern empire.”
Elara laughed once.
“You murdered my mother.”
“She chose her death.”
“You cursed your son.”
“He resisted his destiny.”
“You imprisoned truth for twenty years.”
“I preserved a kingdom.”
Elara looked around.
Broken windows.
Terrified nobles.
Guards bleeding from impacts.
Alaric struggling to stand.
The throne hall collapsing around a woman still calling destruction stability.
Elara understood.
“You don’t own the storm.”
Seraphine’s expression changed.
“What?”
Elara stepped toward her.
“You borrowed it.”
The Queen frowned.
Elara remembered the words in her mother’s letter.
Not names.
Instructions.
What comes when called must also be released.
She had misunderstood.
The Vayne women were not controllers.