The letter arrived at dawn.
By order of His Imperial Majesty,
Seraphina von Aurelian is hereby summoned to the capital for formal inquiry regarding magical interference, unauthorized use of ancient runes, and suspected resurrection ties to the outlawed Phoenix Order.
Three charges.
All punishable by death.
I stared at the seal silver wax marked with the Emperor's crest: a flaming sword over a broken crown.
"Someone told them," I whispered.
Kael stood at my side, jaw clenched. "The Church has spies in the Academy. Someone saw you enter the Gate."
"Then they're not just suspicious anymore," I said. "They're preparing to burn me."
He turned to face me. "Then we go before they drag you in chains."
Two days later, I stood beneath the gilded spires of the Imperial Palace, its towers piercing the clouds, banners rippling crimson across the skies.
I hadn't been here since I was eleven.
Not since my mother's funeral.
Not since the whispers began.
Kael escorted me past guards in white and gold armor, down the grand hall lined with statues of past emperors all cold eyed and sword wielding.
At the end of the hall, the Emperor sat on a blackstone throne.
Emperor Alric IV.
The man who signed my mother's execution order.
He was older now, lined and gray-bearded, but his eyes were sharp as glass.
"Lady Seraphina," he said calmly, "step forward."
Beside him stood three members of the High Council. On his other side, a familiar figure: High Inquisitor Maren, her crimson robes dark as dried blood.
I bowed stiffly.
"You stand accused," Maren said, "of wielding sealed magic, accessing forbidden vaults, and consorting with a known Spellweaver fugitive. How do you plead?"
"I plead nothing," I replied. "Because none of you are worthy of judging what you've spent centuries pretending doesn't exist."
Gasps rippled through the hall.
Alric raised a hand, silencing the murmurs. "You speak boldly for one whose blood may betray her."
I met his gaze. "Or perhaps my blood is the only thing in this room that remembers the truth."
Silence.
Then… the Emperor stood.
He walked toward me slowly, his steps echoing.
"When I ordered the Phoenix Order destroyed," he said, "I did so to preserve the Empire."
"By killing my mother?" I snapped.
"She was no longer your mother. She was a weapon."
"No," I whispered. "I'm the weapon. She was the warning."
His eyes flickered. "You've seen the Gate, haven't you?"
I didn't answer. I didn't have to.
He nodded once. "Then it's true. The Phoenix Blood lives on."
Behind me, Kael stepped forward. "If you execute her now, you lose more than a girl. You lose the only chance to undo what you started."
Maren scoffed. "Undo fate? Is that what you believe?"
I turned to the court.
"You think I came here to beg for mercy?" I said, voice rising. "I came to warn you. The spell that sealed the Gate is unraveling. And if I die before it's unlocked, everything she tried to protect will burn with me."
The room fell still.
Then Emperor Alric spoke.
"You will not be executed," he said.
Maren turned, stunned. "Your Majesty—!"
"But neither are you free." His voice turned to ice. "You are now under royal binding. Any use of magic outside command will be treated as treason."
My skin prickled as the spell circle burned itself into the floor beneath me.
Magic rose. Silver threads coiled around my wrists like vines.
A leash.
A chain.
A cage.
I sat in the guest chambers of the palace, window wide to the wind. Kael stood beside me.
"Bound," I murmured. "They didn't burn me… but they clipped my wings."
Kael handed me a folded scrap of parchment.
From inside his coat.
A stolen council document.
I opened it.
The Emperor knows the Gate will break.
He's keeping you alive… not to stop it. But to use it.