Amara's POV
I felt it before I saw it—an energy shift in the room, sharp and dangerous.
Skylar paused at the door. Her heels clicked once against the marbled floor, then silence.
Then she turned.
Fast.
Too fast.
Her hand reached for the side table beside the towering pillars of the Imperial Chamber. My eyes widened. Chris didn't move. Maybe he didn't believe she'd do it. Maybe he still saw the woman she used to be.
The crystal goblet was in her hand—heavy, thick, filled with untouched red wine.
And before I could say a word—before the guards even reacted—she threw it.
It cut through the air like a blade, spinning violently—and then—crack—
Blood.
Chris staggered back.
The goblet had smashed against the side of his forehead, splitting skin and leaving a crimson trail streaking down his temple. The wine mixed with blood, pooling across the side of his regal collar.
He didn't fall.
He didn't even flinch.
But I gasped, stepping forward instinctively. "Chris!"
The guards lunged, grabbing Skylar instantly, pinning her down before she could move again. Her hair fell in disarray, her face twisted in pain, fury… but not regret.
She looked up—right at him.
"You think you've won?" she spat, voice venomous. "You humiliated me, erased me. You married your puppet while the ashes of our past were still warm. I won't let you pretend I was never real. I won't let you forget me."
Chris pressed a finger to his bleeding temple, then looked at the red stained against it. Calm. Too calm.
The guards waited for his command.
But he didn't speak to them.
He looked at me.
"Amara," he said, voice low. "Decide her fate."
My heart pounded.
This woman had drawn blood from the emperor. And he just handed her punishment... to me.
Skylar locked eyes with me—daring, burning, defiant.
And for the first time…
I understood her rage.
But this? This act of violence?
No.
I stepped forward slowly. The chamber was dead quiet, every soul hanging on my breath.
"I told you not to test me," I said softly. "But you didn't listen."
I turned to the guards. "Take her to Sector V. Maximum security. No contact. No light. And feed her nothing but knowledge—give her books, documents, records of what she once had. Let her read the empire grow without her."
Skylar's breath caught. That hurt her more than death.
Chris just wiped his temple again, watching silently as they dragged her away.
And me? I stood next to him.
The new 02.
Unshaken.
Unforgiving.
Unbreakable.
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