Chapter : 244

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They stood in comfortable silence for a moment. The moonlight painted the garden below in silver and shadow. Somewhere in the distance, a night bird called out, its song lonely and beautiful.

Princess, Ken said, and his voice was different. Not lazy. Not goofy. Just quiet and careful, like he was choosing his words with a precision that he did not usually bother with. There is something you should know. Something I have been meaning to tell you, but the timing was never right, and Luna came first.

Iris turned to face him. What is it?

Before we left for the jungle, I received a report from a contact of mine. Someone I trust. His name is Ryu. He works in the imperial intelligence network, or what is left of it. He sent a message through a secure channel that only I can access.

Iris felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air. Ken was not the type to speak in carefully measured sentences. Whatever this was, it was serious.

What did the message say?

Ken stared out at the moonlit garden. The Hollow organization is bigger than we thought. Much bigger. The cell we destroyed in the Silverleaf Jungle was one branch of a network that spans the entire empire. There are cells in the western provinces, the northern mountains, the southern ports. Even here, in the capital.

Iris gripped the railing. Here? In the capital?

Ryu believes there is a cell operating inside the imperial palace itself, Ken said. Embedded deep. Possibly for years. They have been recruiting from the lower nobility, the disenfranchised, the ambitious. People who have been left behind by the Succession War and want to tear the whole system down.

And Ryu is certain of this? Iris asked. Her voice was steady, but her knuckles were white on the railing.

Ryu does not deal in uncertainties, Ken said. He is the most paranoid person I have ever met, and I say that as someone who is naturally suspicious of anything that requires me to stand up before noon. If he says there is a cell in the palace, then there is a cell in the palace.

Why tell me this now? Iris asked.

Because Ryu message came with a second piece of information, Ken said. He paused, and for a moment his half-closed eyes opened fully, revealing a sharpness that was usually hidden behind the lazy facade. The Hollow is planning something. Something big. Ryu does not know the details yet, but the word he used was reckoning. They are calling it the Reckoning, and it is coming soon.

How soon? Iris asked.

Ryu does not know. Days, maybe. Weeks at most. But the preparations are already in motion. Resources are being moved. Agents are being activated. Whatever the Reckoning is, it has been planned for a long time, and it is finally ready.

Iris was quiet for a long moment. The moon hung above them, cold and bright, and the shadows in the garden seemed deeper than they had been a few minutes ago. The victory in the Silverleaf Jungle, the cure for Luna, the relief and the joy of coming home, all of it felt suddenly fragile, like a thin sheet of ice over dark water.

We just saved Luna, Iris said. We just won. And now you are telling me that something worse is coming.

Yeah, Ken said. That is about the size of it. Sorry.

Iris closed her eyes. She thought of Luna, sleeping peacefully in her bed for the first time in a week. She thought of Risa and her teddy bear. She thought of Sayma and her notebooks, Laxmi and her fire, Zinia and her steady strength, Ira and her quiet vigilance, Naomi and her daggers. Her team. Her family. All of them together under one roof, finally safe, finally whole.

And now there was a storm gathering on the horizon. A Reckoning. A shadow that stretched from the jungle to the palace itself. The Hollow had been a name, a rumor, a distant threat. Now it was real. Now it was here, in the capital, in the palace, in the heart of the empire she was supposed to one day help govern. And she had no idea what form it would take or when it would strike.

She opened her eyes and looked at Ken. He was leaning against the railing with his usual slouch, his hands in his pockets, his expression half-asleep again. But his eyes were not sleepy. They were watching her, measuring her reaction, waiting to see if she would break or stand.

We will face it, Iris said. Whatever the Reckoning is, whatever the Hollow is planning, we will face it. Together. That is what this unit does.

Ken studied her for a moment. Then the faintest ghost of a smile crossed his face. Not the lazy grin. Something smaller and more real. Yeah, he said. That is what this unit does.

He pushed himself off the railing and stretched, his joints cracking loudly in the quiet night. Now if you will excuse me, Princess, I have a date with a bed that does not move. I have been sleeping in carriages for three days, and my spine has filed a formal complaint. Several formal complaints, actually. There is a whole stack of them.

Go, Iris said, and for the first time in a week, there was warmth in her voice. Get some rest. You have earned it.

I have not earned anything, Ken said, shuffling toward the door. I complained the entire time. But I will take the rest anyway, because I am not an idiot.

He paused at the door and looked back at her. For a moment, the moonlight caught his face at an angle that made him look like someone completely different. Someone older. Someone who carried secrets the way other people carried stones, heavy and hidden. Someone who saw more than he ever let on and cared more than he would ever admit.

Goodnight, Princess. Stay on the balcony too long and you will catch a cold. Then Chiha will yell at you, and nobody wants that. The man has a very impressive yelling voice for someone his age.

Goodnight, Ken, Iris said softly. And thank you. For trusting me with this.

He disappeared inside. The door closed softly behind him. Iris turned back to the garden and the moon and the deep, quiet shadows that stretched from the estate walls to the distant silhouette of the imperial palace on the horizon. She stood there for a long time, watching the city lights flicker and the stars wheel slowly overhead, thinking about battles won and battles yet to come.

The Glayin horn had saved Luna. The Hollow cell in the Silverleaf Jungle had been destroyed. The Dimitri tribe was free. Chief Paul and his trackers had waved goodbye as the carriage departed, the old chief pressing his forehead to the shaft of his spear in a gesture of respect that was older than any empire.

These were victories, and they mattered. But the war was far from over. The Reckoning was coming. The storm was gathering. And the 13th Unit would need to be ready. Iris took a slow, deep breath and squared her shoulders. She was a princess of Belmontia. She had faced a corrupted skeleton, a corruption wave, and the possibility of losing her teammate. She could face whatever came next.

Iris took one last breath of the cool night air, then turned and went inside, closing the balcony door behind her. The moon continued its slow arc across the sky, indifferent to the struggles of princesses and the secrets of lazy young men. But somewhere in the palace on the hill, in the shadows where even moonlight could not reach, something was stirring.

And it was patient.

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