His Bride, Her Revenge

Chapter 124: The Broken Oath

The skies over Blackvale were painted in bruised twilight, clouds swollen with rain that hadn’t yet decided to fall. The castle loomed against the darkening horizon like a wounded beast strong, ancient, but bleeding from within.

Cambria stood atop the eastern watchtower, her cloak billowing around her like wings of shadow. Her fingers gripped the stone ledge as if anchoring herself from being swept away by the storm of everything that had happened everything that was still to come.

Lucien’s betrayal was no longer just a whisper in the dark. It was a name carved into the bones of her past, bleeding into her present.

Behind her, Evelyn’s footsteps echoed softly. "He didn’t just betray the crown," Evelyn said, voice low, eyes fixed on the horizon. "He betrayed you. He betrayed her." She meant Seraphine. She meant the queen was buried in fire and truth.

Cambria turned slowly, her face a mask of calm too calm. "Then I will do what no daughter should ever have to do."

"Kill him?" Evelyn asked bluntly.

"No," Cambria whispered. "Erase him."

Evelyn stilled. "That’s more cruel."

Cambria didn’t respond. Her silence was the answer.

They gathered in the War Room that night. The council chamber had changed over the months more shadows, fewer familiar faces. Maddox stood near the window, his posture stiff. He hadn’t looked at her since she’d entered.

Knox leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, unreadable as always, though his eyes lingered a little too long on Cambria’s face.

Lucien’s seat remained empty.

The absence screamed louder than words.

"Reports confirm it," Evelyn said, her fingers sliding over the holographic map projected onto the obsidian table. "Lucien’s forces have taken the lower isles. They’re using the old port routes to channel supplies, weapons, and soldiers from the Eastern Wastes."

Maddox’s voice was tight. "Traitors, all of them."

"No," Cambria corrected. "Desperate men. Desperate men follow power. And Lucien offered them something I haven’t yet."

Knox arched an eyebrow. "And what will you offer? Mercy?"

"I’ll offer them a choice," Cambria replied coldly. "Bend the knee. Or break."

A beat of silence passed.

Then Maddox said, "We need to move on this. Swiftly. He’s exposing our flank "

"There’s more," Evelyn interrupted. "Lucien... he’s not working alone."

The room froze.

Cambria’s voice was deathly quiet. "Say it."

Evelyn hesitated, then tapped the map. A name flickered to life.

Sophia Drake.

"No," Maddox muttered. "That’s impossible. She’s dead."

Cambria’s throat tightened. "She was."

Knox pushed off the wall, stepping forward. "The woman I saw in the capital... It was her. Changed. Enhanced. But it was her."

Evelyn nodded grimly. "They’ve revived Project Valkyrie. The perfected weapons Seraphine once shut down. Sophia is one of them now. Enhanced beyond the original models. A queen of war."

Maddox swore under his breath.

Cambria barely blinked.

She had expected this. Hoped it wasn’t true but expected it.

"Lucien gave her the crown of ash," Knox murmured. "But she’s forging it into fire."

Later, when the council disbanded and only shadows remained, Cambria sat alone in the moonlit alcove near the royal gardens. The night air smelled of roses and iron.

"You knew," came Maddox’s voice from behind her. Not angry. Not cold. Just tired.

She didn’t answer.

He sat beside her anyway, silent for a moment before saying, "You knew Lucien was never truly loyal. You knew about Sophia. You’ve always been ten steps ahead. So why didn’t you tell me?"

Cambria turned to him slowly, her voice barely a breath. "Because knowing would’ve broken you."

"You don’t get to make that choice for me."

"You don’t get to ask for the truth and then hate me for how it hurts."

Maddox looked away.

The silence between them was thicker than blood.

"I trusted you," he said finally.

She stood. "Then trust me now. I will stop them. All of them."

At midnight, Cambria descended to the tombs beneath the castle.

Few dared walk there. The hallways were cold with old power, lined with the statues of kings and queens long devoured by time. Her torch barely cut through the gloom.

She came to the chamber sealed by the Ouroboros sigil the ancient emblem of eternal return. The door was lined with bloodstone and whispersteel, forged by her ancestors to keep secrets buried.

She placed her hand on the sigil.

"By right of blood," she whispered. "By oath of fire."

The door shuddered open.

Inside, the air was thick with power.

The sarcophagus at the center bore no name, but Cambria knew who rested inside.

The First Queen.

The one who made the pact.

The one who bore the curse.

A voice echoed in the darkness soft, feminine, and ancient.

"Daughter of war. Why do you disturb my sleep?"

Cambria didn’t flinch. "Because the world is bleeding. And I need your fire."

The stone trembled. The sarcophagus cracked slightly.

"You dare awaken the covenant?"

"I dare everything," Cambria replied. "Because they’ve made monsters of kings. And I was born to end them."

A pause.

Then the voice said, "Very well."

The tomb erupted in golden light.

Back above, Evelyn jolted from her sleep as the tower trembled.

Knox, standing on the balcony of his chambers, looked toward the spire where Cambria stood, wrapped in blazing light like a living goddess.

"She’s unlocked it," he whispered.

Maddox burst through the door moments later, armor half-buckled, eyes wide. "What did she do?!"

Knox didn’t answer.

Because he knew.

Cambria hadn’t just called upon the First Queen.

She had become her.

When morning came, the castle was still standing but the world had changed.

Cambria emerged clad in obsidian and gold, a crown of flame above her brow. Her eyes glowed faintly, not with madness, but clarity.

She addressed the people of Blackvale from the highest balcony.

"Lucien Vale has betrayed this kingdom," she said, her voice like thunder over water. "Sophia Drake has returned, a weapon wearing a crown. Together, they seek to undo what we’ve fought to build."

She raised her hand, and the sky seemed to respond.

"I offer peace to those who want it. But to those who would burn our home know this..."

The wind howled. Fire danced around her fingertips.

"I am the storm you cannot outrun."

That night, in the silence of her private chambers, Cambria stood before the mirror.

Her reflection looked back a queen of fire and fury.

But behind her, a shadow moved.

Knox stepped in, closing the door behind him.

"You unlocked the tomb."

"I had to."

"And now you carry something ancient inside you."

Cambria turned slowly. "It’s not possession. It’s power. And it’s mine to command."

Knox looked at her for a long time. "You’re playing a dangerous game."

"So is Lucien."

He stepped closer. "This war... it will end in blood. Yours. Mine. Or his."

Cambria didn’t look away. "Then let it bleed."

Knox’s hand brushed her cheek gently, something almost tender in the gesture. "I once told you I would follow you into fire."

"You did," she whispered.

He leaned closer. "And I meant it."

Their lips almost touched.

Almost.

But then screams rang out from the lower halls.

Cambria spun, fire surging in her palms.

A messenger crashed into the room, breathless.

"My Queen!" he gasped. "It’s the harbor " noveldrama

"What about it?" Knox demanded.

The messenger’s face was pale. "It’s gone. Burned. Sophia sent a message."

He held up a blackened flag, embroidered with a serpent and flame.

A single word was scorched across the fabric:

"Surrender."

Cambria took the banner in her hand.

Studied it.

Then let it burn.

As the flames consumed the message, the fire didn’t die. It spread unnaturally, dancing across the marble floor like it had a will of its own. Cambria stepped back, alarm rising. Maddox and Evelyn burst in just as the fire surged upward and took form

A figure.

Wreathed in smoke.

Sophia Drake.

A projection but alive. Smiling.

"You awakened the first queen," Sophia said, voice echoing. "I became the last."

She leaned forward, eyes glowing. "Let’s end this. Sister."