Fall of Kings
1245 Words
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Fall of Kings
The burning citadel fell like a second moon.
Chunks of flaming metal rained across Manhattan, smashing rooftops, igniting towers, sending civilians screaming into streets below.
Sirens multiplied.
Car alarms wailed.
The sky itself seemed to burn.
And at the center of the ruined avenue, everyone looked up and understood the same truth. That if it hit whole thousands would die.
*****
Cassandra
Her knees buckled.
Too much power had left her body too quickly. The bond surge with Cicilia had broken the citadel’s shields, but not its mass.
Her vision blurred.
“I can’t…” she whispered.
Jason was at her side instantly.
“You can.”
“No,” she said, furious at weakness. “Not alone.”
Maxwell crouched on her other side, checking her pulse with maddening calm.
“She’s depleted.”
Lucien landed nearby, bloodied, coat torn, amber eyes blazing.
“My father has dreadful timing.”
Bosco dragged Malrec by the throat across the pavement and slammed him unconscious against a vehicle.
“One problem at a time.”
*****
The Impossible Plan
Seraphine still held Jay, who pointed upward excitedly.
“Big fire rock!”
“No,” Seraphine said grimly. “Big extinction rock.”
She strode toward them.
“There’s one chance.”
No one liked those words.
“The citadel core still responds to royal blood command.”
Lucien cursed softly.
Jason narrowed his eyes.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning,” Seraphine said, “a Varik heir can enter the core and trigger collapse containment before impact.”
Maxwell understood first.
“From inside.”
She nodded.
“And no one survives that radius.”
Silence hit like a hammer.
Lucien smiled faintly.
“Well.”
Julie, somehow still alive and dirty, shouted from behind a police barrier:
“Absolutely not! He’s the hottest one!”
*****
Lucien
He looked up at the falling fortress.
Then at Cassandra.
Then at Jay.
Then at his unconscious father.
“Poetic,” he murmured. “The son cleaning up paternal negligence.”
Jason stepped forward.
“There has to be another route.”
“There rarely is.”
Maxwell’s jaw tightened. “I can pilot insertion.”
“You lack the blood key.”
Bosco said flatly, “I’ll throw your father into it instead.”
Lucien almost laughed.
Tempting.
But no.
He turned to Cassandra.
“You dislike being claimed.”
She stared at him, already understanding.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not claiming you.”
For once, his voice held no flirtation.
“I’m choosing something.”
*****
Cassandra
The idea of losing him struck unexpectedly hard.
He was infuriating.
Arrogant.
Beautifully shameless.
And alive in a way many powerful men forgot to be.
“You barely know me,” she said.
Lucien stepped closer through drifting ash.
“I know enough.”
He touched her cheek with two fingers.
“You make monsters want to become men.”
Her throat tightened.
“Lucien…”
He smiled softly.
“There. You finally said my name like it mattered.”
*****
Jason
Jealousy should have come.
Instead came respect.
And dread.
He gripped Lucien’s forearm.
“You do this, I’ll owe you.”
Lucien arched a brow.
“Try not to make it emotional.”
Jason pulled him into a rough embrace anyway.
Lucien looked offended.
“This is deeply on-brand for you.”
*****
Maxwell
Maxwell stepped forward next.
“You’ll need coordinates to the core chamber.”
“I assumed you’d provide diagrams while brooding.”
Maxwell handed him a holo-tablet.
“Irritatingly, yes.”
Lucien glanced at it.
Then at Maxwell.
“She loves that you’re competent, you know.”
Maxwell blinked.
“She what?”
Lucien was already walking away.
*****
Bosco
Bosco caught Lucien by the shoulder.
The prince turned.
Bosco’s eyes were dark and unreadable.
“If you survive, I’ll still hate you.”
Lucien grinned.
“Then I shall strive magnificently.”
Bosco pulled him into a fast brutal hug and shoved him away.
“No one saw that.”
Everyone saw it.
*****
The Mother and the Child
Jay wriggled free and ran to Lucien.
The adults panicked.
Jay hugged his leg.
“Shiny wolf man.”
Lucien froze.
Slowly knelt.
“Yes?”
“Don’t die.”
The avenue went silent.
Lucien swallowed once.
A harder task than facing fire.
“I’ll do my scandalous best.”
Jay kissed his cheek.
Lucien stood quickly.
“No one mention this either.”
*****
Launch
A damaged Tribunal dropship spun down through smoke.
Seraphine tossed Lucien the ignition key.
“Autopilot to core breach.”
“You’re improving,” he said.
“Die politely.”
He saluted lazily.
Then looked once more at Cassandra.
No jokes now.
No masks.
“If there is another life,” he said, “I expect a fairer race.”
Before she could answer, he boarded.
The dropship shot upward toward the falling citadel.
*****
Malrec Wakes
Bloodied, restrained, Malrec laughed from the ground.
“He was always sentimental.”
Bosco kicked him unconscious again.
“Better.”
*****
The Waiting
They could only watch.
The dropship pierced burning debris.
Dodged collapsing towers of metal.
Vanished into the heart of the descending fortress.
Seconds crawled.
Cassandra gripped Jason’s hand without noticing.
Her other hand found Maxwell’s sleeve.
Neither man moved.
Neither man complained.
Cicilia stood behind her, hands on shoulders.
Bosco stared upward like a father at war.
*****
Inside the Citadel (Transmission Feed)
Seraphine’s comm crackled to life.
Lucien’s voice came through amid alarms.
“Core chamber reached.”
Metal tearing.
Explosions.
“Whoever designed this had intimacy issues.”
Maxwell muttered, “That means he’s hurt.”
Jason asked, “Can he eject?”
Seraphine didn’t answer.
Because she knew.
No.
*****
Final Words
Lucien’s voice returned, weaker.
“Cassandra?”
She stepped to the transmitter.
“I’m here.”
A pause.
Then softer:
“I would have courted you terribly.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You already did.”
He laughed once, coughing.
“Excellent.”
Another alarm.
Then,
“Tell the child I remained magnificent.”
Jay yelled, “YOU’RE SHINY!”
Lucien laughed harder this time.
Then the transmission steadied.
“To all assembled enemies and rivals…”
A breath.
“Try to deserve her.”
Static.
*****
The Light
The citadel stopped falling.
Hung in the sky.
Then folded inward on itself like burning paper consumed from the center.
A sphere of white light blossomed silently.
No shockwave.
No debris.
Just disappearance.
Then stars.
Where doom had been.
*****
Aftermath
The city erupted in distant cheers.
Sirens changed tone.
Phones lit streets.
People cried, laughed, embraced strangers.
Below, on the ruined avenue, no one celebrated.
Cassandra sank to her knees.
Jason caught her.
Maxwell held both of them steady.
Bosco turned away, eyes wet.
Julie openly sobbed.
“I never even got one date!”
Cicilia held Jay as he asked quietly:
“Shiny man gone?”
No one could answer.
*****
Seraphine’s wrist device suddenly beeped.
She stared.
Impossible.
Then slowly turned the screen toward them.
A live locator signal blinked offshore.
ROYAL LIFE SIGNATURE DETECTED
Lucien Varik.
Alive.
Somewhere in the Atlantic.
Bosco was already moving.
Jason straightened.
Maxwell grabbed keys.
Cassandra rose through tears.
And Jay shouted:
“We go get shiny man!”
Far beyond the harbor, lightning flashed over black water.
Something ancient had survived.
And it was waiting.
- Writer
