Chapter 3 Lead Us

Elara’s POV

The smell of burning buildings and debris from the battle still hung in the air. It coated the back of my throat as smoke curled from shattered stone and broken lanterns, drifting through what had been a celebration only minutes earlier.

The garden was almost unrecognizable. Lanterns lay smashed across blackened pathways. Splintered tables and overturned chairs littered the grounds while warriors moved through the destruction, securing the perimeter, checking the fallen, and barking overlapping orders into the chaos.

The music was gone. So was the laughter. Then they arrived.  Just… walking. Calmly. As though they were late to a gathering instead of stepping into the aftermath of a battlefield.

“What the hell do these bitches think they’re doing?” I muttered.

Ember stirred lazily in the back of my mind. “They’re witches,” she replied, sounding far more amused than the situation deserved.

“I know what they are,” I answered under my breath. “That doesn’t mean I have to like the entrance.”

The nerve of them. We’d barely survived an attack meant to wipe us off the map, and now they approached as if they’d simply missed the festivities.

One woman separated herself from the group, stopping just close enough that she didn’t have to raise her voice. She bowed. “My Queen. My Kings.” She straightened slowly, her expression respectful despite her terrible timing. “I understand this isn’t the moment anyone wanted, but what happened tonight isn’t the end. There will be another attack.” Her gaze swept over the ruined garden. “This was only the beginning.”

The words settled into the silence between us. None of us looked surprised. We’d all felt it the moment the fighting ended. This war had only just begun.

“Sienna took control after your mother, Rowena, stepped down,” the woman continued. “She is… unstable.”

I said nothing. Not because I hadn’t heard her. Because I wasn’t convinced I cared.

She shifted uneasily beneath my silence before forcing herself to continue. “She’s becoming more dangerous, and she wants you dead.”

That earned my attention. I tilted my head. “And that concerns me because…?” My voice remained calm. Almost bored. I understood exactly what she was implying. I simply wasn’t interested in making this easy for her.

She met my eyes for the first time. “The Black Flame Coven placed a curse on one of yours.”

I didn’t react outwardly, but I felt everyone around me tense.

“The covens are fractured,” she continued. “Some still follow Sienna. Others refuse. We disagree on almost everything except one thing.” Her gaze never left mine. “They all see you as a threat.”

Power had a way of doing that. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

“There are fifteen of us who broke away,” she said. “We agreed to fight tonight only so we could reach you.”

A calculated risk. Or a carefully rehearsed lie. That’s what this was. I was sure of it.

“We’re asking you to take your rightful place.” She drew a steady breath. “Become our High Priestess.”

I looked past the witches instead, letting my eyes travel over the destruction surrounding us. The burned ground. The shattered stone. The blood. The bodies waiting to be carried home. Tonight had changed everything.

My eyes went to Cassian, then Atlas. Neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to. The same question passed between us. Trust them… Or expect the knife.

“Can they be trusted?” Ryder’s voice broke the silence.

I looked toward him briefly. He wasn’t wrong. This could easily be another trap. Another move in a much larger game.

Brianna stepped forward, studying each witch carefully. “Can’t you bind their magic?” she asked. “Make it so they can’t cast anything?”

The corner of my mouth twitched.

“I vote frogs,” Ryder muttered. “Much safer.”

Atlas snorted. Cassian didn’t even bother hiding his laugh. I rolled my eyes. “Tempting.”

Not a single witch reacted. Either they possessed remarkable self-control… Or they were very good at pretending.

I slowly raised my hand. Magic answered immediately, gathering around my fingertips as though it had been waiting. Ancient words slipped from my lips, quiet but powerful enough to carry across the ruined garden. Silver light coiled through the air before settling over the witches like invisible chains. The spell wasn’t painful. It was absolute. Their magic vanished beneath my seal. I lowered my hand. “Temporary,” I said evenly. “Until I decide otherwise.”

None of them protested. None of them even attempted to resist. That told me more than any speech could have.

Beside me, Ryder turned toward Brianna. “Come on, Princess.” His voice softened. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

She glanced at me. I gave her a small nod. Together they headed toward the palace while warriors continued clearing the battlefield around us.

Cassian and Atlas stayed where they were, both wearing that distant look I recognized immediately. The mind-link.

I turned back to the witch. “We’re not finishing this conversation in the middle of a battlefield. Where are the others?”

She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she looked toward the treeline. I followed her eyes just as figures emerged from the darkness. Fifteen. Exactly as she’d promised.

They approached in a straight line before stopping several paces away, waiting silently instead of taking another step.

Good. At least they understood boundaries.

I lifted my hand once more. The same chant flowed from my lips, and silver magic spread through the newcomers just as quickly as it had the first group. No resistance. No panic. No attempt to fight the spell. Confidence… Or desperation. Perhaps both.

I let my hand fall. “Now,” I said quietly, “we can talk.”

Before anyone moved, Cassian suddenly went still. Atlas’s expression hardened at exactly the same moment. A voice echoed through the mind-link. ‘Kings. Queens.’ Every instinct I possessed sharpened. ‘We caught someone trying to run,’ the warrior reported. A brief pause followed. ‘You’re going to want to see this.’ Another heartbeat passed. ‘You won’t believe who it is.’