Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT THE PALACE FELL

The fighting lasted until sunrise.

Garrick controlled the western wing.

Rowan controlled the royal apartments.

Elara stayed beside Aldric.

Celestine refused to leave her.

Outside, the city heard the palace bells.

Citizens gathered in the streets.

Rumors spread.

The King was dead.

The King was alive.

The lost princess was an assassin.

The lost princess was the rightful heir.

Nobody knew the truth.

Garrick depended on that confusion.

At noon, he appeared on the palace balcony.

He announced that King Aldric had died.

Elara heard the crowd scream.

She turned toward Aldric's bed.

The King opened his eyes.

“He buried me early.”

Elara almost smiled.

Then Aldric coughed.

He was getting weaker.

They needed the city.

But Garrick controlled every official messenger.

Celestine had an idea.

“The coronation bell.”

Rowan looked at her.

“What?”

“Only the sovereign can ring it.”

“If the people hear it, they'll know Garrick is lying.”

The bell tower stood in Garrick's section of the palace.

Elara understood immediately.

“We reach the bell.”

Rowan shook his head.

“Impossible.”

Celestine smiled.

“Not if you know the servants' passages.”

The two women climbed through walls, storage chambers, and forgotten staircases.

At the final corridor, Darius found them.

He drew his sword.

Celestine stepped in front of Elara.

Darius laughed.

“Still pretending to be a princess?”

Celestine stared at him.

“No.”

Then she smiled.

“I'm finally learning how useful it is when people underestimate me.”

She kicked a hidden lever.

A tapestry pole dropped.

Elara caught it and knocked Darius's sword away.

They ran.

They reached the tower.

Elara grabbed the enormous rope.

Below them, Garrick's soldiers were coming.

“Pull!”

Celestine grabbed it with her.

Together they pulled.

The great bell moved.

Once.

Twice.

Then—

BOOM.

The sound rolled across the capital.

Citizens stopped in the streets.

Garrick looked up from the courtyard.

BOOM.

The bell rang again.

Then a third time.

The ancient signal.

THE SOVEREIGN LIVES.

The city erupted.

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Garrick's lie collapsed in seconds.

And suddenly thousands of people were marching toward the palace gates.