ELENA’S POV The silence hanging over the Grand Throne Room was far heavier than the fifty tons of granite that had buried the subterranean vault. The frantic shouts of the global alliance warriors clearing the threshold had died down, replaced by a tense quiet that smelled of cold ozone, fresh iron, and the drifting gray soot of King Richard’s remains. The tyrant was gone, reduced to a pile of worthless ash on the obsidian dais, but the victory felt hollow, cold, and bitter against my teeth. I stood at the summit of the raised stone steps, my leather boots resting inches away from the dark blood pool where Kaelen’s body had just gone limp. His eyes were closed, his blistered fingers resting pale and motionless against the marble floors. The moment his pulse flatlined, the synthetic blood-tether went silent, leaving a cold void behind my ribs that felt unfamiliar. The permanent mental frequency was gone, leaving my mind a quiet tomb. "High Queen," Alpha Vance’s deep voice vibrat
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