Chapter9:The Command to Kill
1691 Words
“Command him to kill the king.”
The words came from inside the ring, but they sounded less like a suggestion than a verdict.
Camellia stood in the center of the collapsing reflection realm with blood running from her finger. The black metal had tightened around her skin, and every pulse sent a sharp current through her hand. Beyond the ring, the silver-haired king remained on his knees, smiling as though he had been waiting for this exact moment.
Zayn stood between them.
His face was turned toward Camellia, but his body remained angled toward the king. The red fire that separated them had begun to sink, leaving only a wavering wall of heat.
“Do not say it,” he warned.
Camellia looked at him. “You heard the ring.”
“I heard what it wants.”
“It wants me to kill him.”
“It wants to use your anger.”
The king laughed softly. “Anger is not the problem. Truth is.”
“I am giving you time to remember.”
“You are giving yourself time to control me.”
“The woman in the mirror?”
“Your first self.”
“What did she do to you?”
The king’s gaze shifted to Zayn. “Ask your protector.”
Camellia did not look away from him. “I am asking you.”
“You want to know why she died?”
“Yes.”
“She discovered that the gate was never built to separate our worlds. It was built to contain yours.”
The ground shuddered beneath Camellia’s feet.
Zayn stepped forward. “He is lying.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I have told you enough.”
“Not nearly enough.”
The ring burned hotter. A faint line of red moved from her palm to her wrist, forming a second circle around the original mark.
Zayn saw it. “Camellia, listen to me. The ring is not neutral. It was made by the king. Every command strengthens his claim over you.”
“Then why does it obey me?”
“Because it recognizes the gatekeeper.”
“Or because it recognizes his heir,” the king said.
Camellia felt the words settle inside her. Daughter. Heir. Gatekeeper. Each title seemed to pull her in a different direction, but none of them told her who she was.
“You are letting them name you again,” she said.
Camellia looked at her. “Then give me a name that is mine.”
The woman’s expression softened. “I cannot. That is the one thing you must choose.”
The king rose.
Although Camellia had commanded him to kneel, the command no longer held. Cracks of black fire ran across his forehead, but his movements were steady.
Zayn moved closer to Camellia. “Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Camellia.”
“I will not hide behind you while everyone else decides what I am.”
The king lifted one hand. A ring of fire formed beneath Zayn’s feet.
Camellia felt the bond pull at her chest. Zayn’s pain arrived inside her before the flames touched him.
“Do not,” she said.
The king’s hand closed.
Zayn dropped to one knee, his teeth clenched against a sound. Fire climbed around his legs, turning his human skin transparent. Beneath it, black glass glowed with buried stars.
Camellia reached for him.
“Command him,” the ring whispered.
The king smiled. “If you want to save him, make him kill me.”
Zayn shook his head. “Do not obey.”
“You will die if I do nothing.”
“I have died before.”
“That is not comforting.”
“It is the truth.”
The fire rose to his waist.
Camellia turned toward the king. “Release him.”
“Give the command.”
“Release him first.”
“You are not in a position to bargain.”
“Neither are you. You are on your knees.”
The king’s eyes darkened. He tried to raise his hand again, but the invisible force of Camellia’s earlier command dragged his arm down.
The ring could control him.
He had not expected that.
“Release him,” Camellia repeated.
The flames around Zayn disappeared.
He collapsed forward. Camellia caught him before he struck the ground. His body was colder than before, and the black cracks had spread across his neck.
“Stand,” she whispered.
The command left her mouth before she understood what she was doing.
Zayn rose instantly.
His eyes met hers, full of anger and grief.
“Do not use the ring to protect me,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because protection is how this began.”
The king stepped toward them. “You see? He wants you helpless. He wants you to believe every choice is dangerous so that you will surrender all choices to him.”
Camellia looked at Zayn. “Is that true?”
“No.”
“Have you ever commanded me?”
“Not with the ring.”
“With anything else?”
He hesitated.
The hesitation was enough.
Camellia pulled away from him. “What did you do?”
Zayn’s gaze fell to the ground. “I made suggestions.”
“What kind?”
“Where to go. Whom to avoid. Which memories to question.”
“You guided me.”
“Yes.”
“You isolated me.”
“I kept the king from finding you.”
“You made me trust only you.”
His silence became unbearable.
The king raised his voice. “He did not protect you from the world. He narrowed the world until he was the only door left.”
Camellia’s throat tightened.
Zayn said, “I never wanted you to love me because you had no one else.”
“But you knew that might happen.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because leaving would have killed you.”
Camellia hated that she believed him.
The first-life woman moved behind her. “This is the moment when you choose what kind of person you will be.”
Camellia looked at the ring.
The command remained inside it, waiting.
Kill the king.
If she obeyed, she might end the threat. She might also become the weapon the king had designed her to be. If she refused, the realm might collapse, trapping her and Zayn among the broken memories.
“What happens if I kill him?” she asked.
Zayn answered before the king could. “His power will pass into the ring.”
“And then?”
“The gate will open.”
“Into the human world?”
“Into both worlds.”
“I do not want to be whole if it means becoming you.”
“You misunderstand your inheritance.”
“I understand your hunger.”
The king moved suddenly.
A spear of black fire shot toward Camellia.
Zayn stepped between them.
The fire pierced his chest.
For one terrible second, there was no sound. Then light burst from Zayn’s back, scattering across the black grass like burning glass.
“Zayn!”
He fell into her arms.
The wound in his chest was not bleeding. It was opening, revealing a darkness filled with distant stars.
Camellia pressed her hand against it. “Stay with me.”
His fingers closed weakly around hers. “Do not command me to live.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
The king approached them. “He has always been useful when he suffers for you.”
Camellia looked up. “You did this.”
“I gave him the choice to stand in front of you.”
“You attacked me.”
“He chose.”
Zayn tried to rise. Camellia held him down.
“You cannot fight him like this.”
“I cannot let him touch you.”
“You are not the only one who can protect me.”
Zayn looked at her. “Then do not become the thing that made me.”
The words reached deeper than the ring’s command.
Camellia stood.
The king waited, certain she would obey the voice inside the metal.
She raised her injured hand.
“I command you,” she said.
The king’s body jerked.
His black eyes widened.
Camellia felt the ring connect to him, but beneath the connection she felt something else: a second bond, older and buried beneath layers of blood and fire.
The king was not merely bound to the ring.
The ring was bound to him.
“What is your command?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Camellia looked at the cracks spreading across his face.
“I command you to tell me the truth.”
The king’s mouth opened.
No sound came out.
The ring tightened.
His body began to shake as black fire poured from his eyes.
Zayn whispered from the ground, “Be careful.”
“Why?”
“The ring cannot force truth from him.”
“Then what is it doing?”
“It is forcing the truth from you.”
The ring flared.
Camellia’s vision filled with a memory she had never seen.
A woman in labor beneath the burning gate.
Mara holding a newborn child.
Zayn kneeling beside them.
And her mother, alive and terrified, whispering a name into the baby’s ear.
Not Camellia’s forgotten name.
Not Zayn’s true name.
The name of the king.
The memory turned toward Camellia.
Her mother looked directly at her and mouthed four words.
**He is not your father.**
The vision shattered.
The king screamed.
Behind him, the largest mirror reopened, revealing
the human archive above.
On the other side of the glass stood Halden, holding the sealed chest against his chest.
His mouth was no longer covered with ash.
He smiled at Camellia.
Then he spoke in the voice of the king.
“Come back, little gatekeeper. Your real father is waiting.”
The mirror widened.
And behind Halden stood Camellia’s mother.
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