Chapter 13 - Varro’s Last Bargain
Only Elara could hear the whisper.
Come below.
She almost went alone.
Then remembered her father’s warning.
Never trust power that fears questions.
So she told everyone.
Cassian.
Mara.
Tomas.
Rowan.
The Council.
They descended together.
The Vault door was cracked.
Inside—
Varro was alive.
Older.
Thin.
Half imprisoned inside the Echo.
“You came,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“You brought everyone.”
“Yes.”
Varro laughed weakly.
“You learned nothing about power.”
“I learned enough not to meet monsters alone.”
The Echo was returning.
Varro claimed he knew how to destroy it.
Permanently.
“What do you want?” Cassian asked.
“Freedom.”
Elara stared.
“If we leave you?”
“The seal eventually breaks.”
“Why?”
“Because the crown divided.”
The seven regional crowns had weakened the single magical seal.
A distributed kingdom required a distributed solution.
Varro explained.
Seven crowns.
Seven Stewards.
And one willing surrender.
Elara whispered:
“Whose?”
Varro smiled.
“The Keeper.”
Mara grabbed Elara’s hand.
“No.”
Varro continued.
“The Keeper must permanently surrender any right to the throne.”
Silence.
Elara looked at the Star Crown.
The palace.
Her future.
The stories people already told about Queen Elara.
Then she remembered the first test.
WHAT WILL YOU GIVE UP?
She had answered:
The crown.
Maybe that test had never ended.
“I’ll do it.”
Mara began crying.
Cassian said:
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
Elara looked at him.
“That’s why it matters.”
The seven Stewards arrived carrying their crowns.
Elara removed the silver band from her wrist.
Cassian removed his.
The crowns formed a circle around the Vault.
Elara placed her hand against the door.
“I surrender my claim.”
The Echo screamed.
The crowns dissolved into light.
Varro cried out.
Elara reached toward him.
“Let go.”
His eyes briefly became human again.
“You would still save me?”
“If you let me.”
This time—
Varro released the darkness.
Rowan and Cassian pulled him free.
The Echo collapsed.
Silver light filled the chamber.
The Star Crown appeared above Elara one last time.
Then something extraordinary happened.
It bowed.
A crown bowed to a child.
Then shattered into seven ordinary silver circlets.
No magic.
No control.
No Choosing.
The age of magical monarchy ended.
Elara touched her empty head.
“Did I just lose the kingdom?”
Cassian smiled.
“No.”
May you like
“You gave it back.”
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