The Villainess Must Die... Again?

"Power taken is feared. Power chosen is followed."

—The Book of Broken Thrones, Page 1

By the time the sun rose again over the Imperial Capital, word had already spread.

The girl who once bore shame as the Villainess of Aurelian was no longer hiding.

She had returned from the Gate alive, with a rune that shimmered in two colors gold and blue. Two fates. One soul.

The nobles whispered in private courts.

The commoners murmured in alleyways and taverns.

The Church declared it heresy.

And the rebellion?

They started calling her a name that hadn't been spoken since the Phoenix Order was burned to ashes.

"The Flameborn Queen."

Emperor Alric was not pleased.

"Do you understand what you've done?" he growled, slamming a goblet of wine against the marble wall of the war chamber.

"I didn't ask the people to speak my name," I said calmly. "They chose to."

"They chose you because they think you'll burn me."

I met his cold gaze. "I didn't come back from the Gate to destroy you. I came back to end the games. All of them."

He stepped closer. "Do not mistake their cheers for a crown. You are not queen."

"Not yet," I replied.

Kael stepped between us then, sword still sheathed, but his presence loud.

"The Empire has never feared monsters," Kael said. "But it always feared the ones it made."

The Emperor said nothing.

But the message was clear.

I had become a threat he could no longer control.

That evening, I sat alone before the silver-glass mirror.

The rune on my collarbone shimmered faintly. One half gold. One half blue.

A perfect divide of two powers:

Gold – the legacy of the Phoenix

Blue – the new, raw power of choice and rewritten fate

I could feel it now, vibrating under my skin.

This wasn't just magic.

It was a beacon.

Someone would come for it. For me.

I didn't have to wait long.

A raven came at midnight.

Its feathers dripped crimson as it flew through my open window. No sound. No warning. Just a soft flutter and a scroll sealed with a rune I didn't recognize.

I opened it carefully.

You've opened the Gate. But you didn't close it.

What walks now… wears your face and hungers for your throne.

She is not gone.

She is gathering allies.

And she will call herself Queen before the blood moon rises.

No signature.

Just a symbol burned into the bottom of the parchment:

— The Masked Court

Kael was already armed when I turned.

"You read it," I said.

He nodded. "The Masked Court was a myth. A council of former Phoenix nobles who fled underground."

"Not a myth anymore."

"They're warning you."

I stood. "Or threatening me."

His jaw tightened. "What now?"

I held the scroll to the flame, let it burn into ash.

And said, "Now we remind them my name isn't Seraphina for nothing."

I returned to the greenhouse cellar the base of the new rebellion where the leaders now stood waiting for my orders.

They bowed.

No oaths.

No chains.

Just eyes full of fire.

I raised my hand, let the rune glow in full view.

"We have enemies in shadows. A girl who stole my name. A king who wears fear like armor. A Church that would rather hang me than hear me. And now… a court that thinks I can't lead unless they allow it."

I looked around the room.

"I didn't return from death for permission. I returned for justice."

The room roared in answer.

"FLAMEBORN! FLAMEBORN! FLAMEBORN!"

And for the first time, I didn't flinch from the title.