Page 25 of The Rivaled Crown (The Veiled Kingdom #3)

CHAPTER 25

VERENA

T he night stretched before us, endless and waiting.

The rebels moved in near silence, boots pressing into damp earth, blades strapped to their backs, eyes locked ahead toward the towering walls of the capital. This was the moment they had trained for.

The moment they had spent their lives dreading.

The wind howled through the trees, carrying the distant sound of city bells tolling the final hours before midnight.

By sunrise, the kingdom would be drenched in blood.

By sunrise, my father would fall.

I stood at the edge of the forest, the soft cascade of the waterfall echoing in the distance, its waters spilling over the jagged cliffs that hid the tunnels leading beneath the palace. The path we had planned for. The path that would lead me straight to the vessel and Dacre straight to him .

But despite everything, despite the weight of the night pressing down on me, I wasn’t alone.

Dacre was beside me, his fingers brushing against mine, a tether between us as he scanned the tree line. His face was stoic, but through the bond, I could feel his magic moving with mine, restless and waiting.

Wren and Kai stood close, their postures rigid, their weapons secured against their bodies.

Everything was in place.

Dacre turned to me, his voice steady, but there was something else beneath it. Something unspoken. “Once we reach the palace, you make sure to stay with Wren and my grandmother.”

I nodded. We had already gone over this so many times already, but he hadn’t calmed the anxiety in either of us. “We go to the vessel.”

“Verena—”

“I can do this.” I said the words out loud, but I needed to hear them too. Needed to feel them inside me until I could force myself to believe them.

His jaw tightened, and I knew what he was thinking. What we were both thinking, but I refused to let all of the fears that screamed at me to take root.

Wren moved closer to my side, and I watched as her throat bobbed. She looked between me and Dacre, a flicker of hesitation in her gaze, and her fingers curled tightly around the strap of the bow across her chest.

“You keep her with you,” Dacre spoke before she could. “Keep each other within your sights at all times. Do not separate. Do not leave the other.”

She nodded once, but he wasn’t satisfied.

“I need to know that you’re both safe. You will protect Verena, and she will protect you.”

“Dacre,” she whispered his name, and I could feel the tension rolling off Kai as he moved closer to Wren’s side.

“You are my family.” Dacre looked at each of us. “We are all each other has, and we will fight together. We will fight for each other.”

Wren shifted, her anxiety evident in the tense lines of her posture. “And if we don’t come back?”

Dacre’s fingers curled around mine as he looked at his sister, really looked at her, and I could feel the warmth in my chest, the aching love he had for her. His voice was low, but it didn’t waver. “Then I will find you in the next life. All of you.”

His words were a vow; they were a promise.

“In the next life.” Kai nodded before he took Wren’s hand in his. He laced their fingers together, and he lifted her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

My chest ached as I watched them, but I couldn’t tell if it came from me or from Dacre.

Wren exhaled shakily, her gaze lingering on Kai for a long moment. “In the next life.”

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around Dacre’s, and I forced myself to look at each of them. To take in their features, the lines of their skin, the freckles on Wren’s nose. I took in every little detail that I wasn’t willing to forget. “In the next life.”

But I didn’t want the next life.

I wanted this one.

Dacre lifted my hand, pressing it against his chest. I wanted to stay in this moment, to linger in the warmth of him, of our family, but there was no more time.

We turned, preparing to move toward the tunnel entrance below the falls, and everything went wrong.

A sharp rustling in the trees behind us made me turn.

Dacre’s father emerged from the darkness, his posture rigid, his steps slow, his eyes panicked. He was alone. His usual commanding presence felt heavier, weighted by something none of us had braced for.

Dacre stiffened at my side. “You should be with the others.”

His father didn’t answer immediately. His gaze swept over us, landing on me, then Wren, then back to Dacre.

“There’s a problem.” His voice was rough, lined with exhaustion.

There was a beat of silence then Dacre took a single step forward. “What problem?”

His father exhaled sharply. “The tunnels.” He shook his head once, as if still trying to process his own words. “They’ve been collapsed.”

My stomach plummeted.

“What?” Dacre’s voice betrayed his panic.

“They’re gone.” His father’s fists clenched at his sides. “Your plan, our plan, it’s not going to work.”

A breath left my lips as I turned to the cliffside.

Kai cursed under his breath. “How?”

Dacre’s father’s jaw locked. “The king knew.” His gaze flicked to me, to the mark hidden beneath my sleeve. “He knew that’s how we got inside to get to Verena.”

I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. My father had destroyed the only way we could have made it inside without walking directly into his trap.

“They are filled with stone,” Dacre’s father growled. “He’s made sure that we’ll never use them again.

Dacre ran a hand through his hair, his shoulders rising and falling with his uneven breathing. I could feel the weight of his frustration, his magic churning beneath his skin.

He turned toward his father. “Then tell me how the hell we get inside.”

His father’s expression darkened, but I could see it in his face, the rebellion leader he had always been. “There’s only one way now. We’ll have to go through the city.”

The words settled over us like a death sentence, and I felt Wren shift beside me, could feel the ripple of unease that spread through us all.

Dacre inhaled sharply. “We should turn back.”

His father nodded.

But I wasn’t going back. I wasn’t willing to stop until we finally brought this to an end. “I’m not turning back.”

I felt Dacre’s magic surge again, felt the undeniable fear settle into his chest through our bond. This changed everything. It shifted everything.

There was no more sneaking. No more careful strategy.

“Verena,” he pleaded with me, but there was no choice to make.

I couldn’t go back into hiding; I couldn’t spend even one more day waiting for my father to come, waiting for him to find me again.

Dacre’s jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring as he turned fully to face me. “Verena, this could be a trap.” His voice was low, but through the bond, I felt the panic beneath his anger. “He will be waiting for us.”

“I know that.” My voice didn’t waver. “But he always will be. He’ll be waiting or hunting, and I can’t go another day with the fear of him hovering over me.”

His hands curled into fists at his sides, his magic rippling against mine, demanding and desperate.

“He wants you.” His voice was strained, hoarse. “I’m not going to recklessly risk you by charging in there.”

I took a step closer, my fingers brushing against his wrist, against the mark that bound us. “And if we turn back? If we wait?” I swallowed hard. “How many more will he kill? How long before he gets his hands on me again?”

His breath hitched.

I lifted my chin. “We don’t have a choice, Dacre.”

His pulse hammered through the bond, his heartbeat erratic, his magic a storm barely contained beneath his skin.

I turned to Dacre’s father. “How many men do you already have inside the city?”

He looked back and forth between his son and me, but I could see the calculation in his gaze. “Enough to hold a fight, but not enough to win one.” His jaw clenched. “We were relying on those tunnels.”

I nodded once. “Then we change the plan.”

Dacre exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face before turning to Kai, his voice clipped. “What do you think?”

Kai crossed his arms, shifting his weight. “The outer districts are already waiting for us. They’ll need a signal to move in. If we don’t give it to them?—”

“They’ll be slaughtered,” Wren finished, her voice tight. “Once the king realizes they are there, he will never let them leave.”

Dacre’s father let out a slow breath. “We go through the city,” he muttered, as if the words themselves made him sick. “Straight through the bridge and the palace gates.”

Dacre shook his head once, tension radiating from him. “We’ll never make it inside before reinforcements surround us.”

“We will.” Dacre’s father’s gaze locked on to me, his lips pressing into a grim line. “Because we have her.”

All eyes turned to me. A sharp breath left my lips. “You want me on the front lines.”

His expression didn’t shift. “We need you there if we want to stand a chance.” His voice was even, controlled.

“No.” Dacre’s voice was a command, something none of us should have been willing to go against, but we had no other choice.

“He’s not wrong, Dacre.” Kai let out a breath. “I’ll lead the front line as planned, and Verena will stick with you. She will stay behind us until we need her.”

Wren stepped closer, shaking her head. “If Verena takes the front, she’ll be the target.”

“She already is,” Dacre muttered. His eyes met mine, dark and burning. “She always has been.”

I stepped forward, pressing my hand against his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart beneath my palm. “We do this together.”

Dacre’s breath shuddered against my skin just as a scream cut through the night.

It wasn’t close. It was from the capital city. A warning. A promise of what was already happening there.

Dacre’s father reacted first, his body going rigid. “It’s started.”

My breath caught in my throat as I turned toward the looming walls of the capital. The flickering glow of torches burned from within, but they were burning brighter now, something was burning.

Dacre’s grip on my arm tightened. “We go now.”

Kai let out a sharp breath. “We stay together. As close as we can.”

The plan they had been crafting crumbled to dust and carried through the wind just as another scream rang out. This one more terrifying, more guttural than the one before.

No more careful strategies. No tunnels. No secret passageways.

Just war.

Dacre’s father turned, lifting a hand toward the trees behind us, toward the rebels waiting in the shadows. “Form ranks!”

A ripple of movement swept through the forest, boots shifting, blades unsheathing, quiet murmurs carrying through the still air. They were ready.

Dacre exhaled sharply, turning to me. His jaw was tight, his magic rippling between us. He wasn’t ready for this, wasn’t prepared to send me into it.

But we had no more time.

I reached up, brushing my fingers over his jaw, then over the mark that tethered us together. “We do this together.”

His hand curled over mine.

A breath. A moment.

Then the city bells began to ring, and we ran.

The first arrow flew as we inched closer to the city. It barely missed Kai’s shoulder, sinking into the earth beside him with a sharp thud.

Shouts erupted from the darkness. The king’s soldiers were waiting.

Kai didn’t hesitate. “Go!”

The rebellion surged forward, and I ran alongside them, my pulse hammering in my throat. The trees gave way to open ground, the bridge stretching before us like a death sentence.

And beyond it, the gates of the palace.

A solid wall of armored soldiers stood across the bridge, their swords pointed outward, their ranks unwavering. Their polished armor glinted beneath the torchlight, a sea of steel standing between us and the throne.

This was the only way in. My father had made sure of that.

Kai reached the front line first, his twin swords flashing as he met the nearest guard. Steel clashed against steel. We had just been talking, just been promising each other what our futures would hold, and it had slipped from our hands so easily.

There was no more time for vows, no more time to decide who we were going to be. The war had begun, whether we were ready for it or not.

Dacre was beside Kai in an instant, cutting through the enemy with brutal efficiency. Wren moved swiftly beside me, sending arrows into the thick of the soldiers.

I could barely think, barely breathe. I looked around for Dacre’s grandmother, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Everything was a blur of movement and chaos, of snarled commands and desperate cries.

A guard lunged at me, sword raised, and I twisted, stepping into his attack rather than away from it. My blade met his ribs, slicing through the gaps in his armor.

Another came at me before I had a chance to catch my breath. I ducked, spun, struck.

The fight moved faster than thought, faster than fear.

My magic roared inside me, as did Dacre’s, but I needed to save it. I had no idea what I would face once we got inside, once I got to the vessel, but I knew that I would need every bit of power I had to fight him.

Another scream split through the night, a rebel cut down just feet from me.

I turned toward the sound, my chest tightening, and I tried to breathe as I watched more rebels fall.

I slammed my dagger into another guard, the bones in my arm, aching with the impact, but Wren was already there, her blade slicing through the man’s throat before he could fight back.

I turned, looking for Dacre, looking for Kai, then I saw it.

A building to my right, directly across the bridge, had flames licking at its walls. A deep, relentless ache settled in my stomach as I watched the fire greedily engulfing the side of the familiar building, one that had been a constant fixture outside my bedroom window for as long as I could remember.

Then my gaze settled on the rebellion mark, freshly painted across the brick facade, its dark color still glistening even as the flames ate at it with the same hunger my father had to kill this rebellion.

My breath caught in my throat as my eyes traveled down the wall, where a line of four figures hung lifelessly. The ropes, cruelly taut, had snapped their necks, leaving them to dangle from the building’s roof and the flames licked up against their feet, threatening to consume them next.

Three were men, men I didn’t know, but it was the presence of the fourth that shattered my composure. A young boy, innocent and ignorant of the world’s harsh burdens, suspended alongside them.

This was my father.

I had known my father would retaliate. I had known the lengths he would go to in order to find me, in order to make sure that every one of his people realized that none of us were safe.

But seeing it, seeing the proof of his cruelty displayed so openly, I broke. A deep, relentless ache settled in my stomach before it turned to rage.

The magic inside me roared to life, writhing and desperate to be unleashed.

“Don’t.” A hand clamped down on my shoulder, stopping my advance, and I turned to the voice, tears already burning in my eyes. Micah shook his head solemnly before his gaze flickered up to where I knew the boy still hung. I hadn’t even known Micah was here. I hadn’t seen him…

“That’s where he wants your attention. That’s all he wants you to see.” He let his hand fall away from my shoulder. “We both know how he works.”

I knew he was right. Of course, I did, but in that moment, all I could see was that boy, all I could think of was everything my father had done.

I took a step away from Micah, then another, and I didn’t stop as I pushed through the lines of warriors who were tearing each other down.

I moved as quickly as I could, and I could feel power stirring within me. It grew ravenous and desperate, mirroring my own hunger and desperation to destroy.

I raised my hands, palms turned outward toward the waiting enemy soldiers as I moved closer to the front line. A deep, primal energy coursed through me, a mixture of my own and something else, and I allowed my power to draw from the soldiers’ strength, siphoning their magic until I was brimming with it, threatening to overflow.

I could hear my name being called, could hear someone shouting for me. Dacre. I couldn’t tell if it was from behind me or through the bond, but it was too late.

I let go.

Power exploded from me in an unrelenting wave. The black inky force slammed into the soldiers, knocking them back as if struck by an invisible weapon. Some collapsed outright, their bodies crumpling to the ground, weapons slipping from lifeless fingers.

I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

The magic kept coming, demanding, taking, burning. I felt it seep into me, siphoning their strength, their life. I could feel their magic trembling beneath my fingertips, could feel the way my body wanted to devour even more.

A soldier in front of me fell to his knees, gasping for breath, his energy draining before my eyes. He would die here because of me.

I took a slow step forward, my heart hammering wildly in my chest, my power desperate to make the man pay.

A hand gripped my wrist.

Dacre.

His magic collided with mine, cutting through the chaos, through the hunger, and I gasped.

The bond between us flared, throbbed, screamed.

“Enough,” he whispered.

The word cracked through my ribs, slicing through the power clawing at my skin, pulling me back before I lost myself completely.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the haze of power, the world spinning wildly around me.

Dacre was so close, his chest heaving against me, and he didn’t let go.

He wasn’t going to.

I sucked in a sharp breath, my magic slowly pulling back, but the damage had been done.

The soldiers were staring as they retreated. Not just the king’s men. The rebels.

They had seen.

A murmur rippled through the rebellion, voices whispering, but not with fear. They were no longer afraid of me. They were in awe.

I let my gaze run through them, looked at these people who now fought alongside me, and I tried to breathe, let myself remember exactly what we were fighting for.

Someone called out, voice rough and raw with emotion. “The queen is here! The queen has come!”

It echoed through the bridge, through the army behind me.

“The heir has returned. The queen has come.”

I barely had time to process their words before Dacre turned me toward him completely, forcing me to look at him, but I couldn’t. Instead, my eyes fixated on the boy. His lifeless body swayed above those crackling flames, the fire hungrily reaching for his small frame.

“Verena,” Dacre whispered, his voice rough, his fingers pleading.

I could smell it then, the burning flesh as the fire had already overtaken the others.

My hands curled into fists, my power still swirling in the air as if it, too, couldn’t manage to slow its breath, to quell the deathly urge inside it.

“Dacre, I…”

His fingers tightened against my arms, pulling me closer, pressing his forehead against mine. “You need to save your power.” His breath was ragged, his own fury barely contained. “You’re going to burn yourself out before the real fight even begins.”

I knew I should be listening to him, but I didn’t feel like I was going to burn out; I didn’t feel anything except the need to take, to make them all pay for what they had done.

“The boy,” I whispered, my voice cracking, and Dacre followed my gaze to where I looked at the boy who was now burning.

Thick plumes of smoke curled into the night sky, starting to block the boy from my view.

His jaw clenched, his entire body going taut beneath my hands.

He closed his eyes for the briefest moment before exhaling sharply. “We fight for him. We end this for them all.”

I lifted my chin, inhaling one last, shaky breath, and Dacre’s hands moved into my hair, anchored on each side of my face as he stared down at me.

He didn’t need to say a word. I could feel everything through our bond, his fear, his longing, his love.

I wrapped one of my hands around his, and I turned my head just enough to press my lips against the base of his palm. Then I turned my gaze toward the palace gates, standing untouched beyond the chaos.

We were going to take the palace.

And we were going to end this.