Chapter 95 - The Treachery of the Ten
The hall plunged into sudden, suffocating silence as the pages stopped turning, resting on a heavy sheet of illuminated parchment stamped with three royal seals and an unmistakable signature in deep crimson ink.
Clara leaned forward, her eyes scanning the text. Her jaw tightened, the triumph draining from her face, replaced by pure shock. "No... that’s impossible."
"What does it say?" Emma demanded, pulling her hand away and wrapping a handkerchief around her bleeding palm.
"It doesn't name an heir," Clara whispered, horror lacing her tone. "It names a liquidator."
Before Emma could respond, a deafening shot cracked from the gallery above. The stone floor three inches from Clara’s feet shattered into dust.
"Treason!" one of the Council members screamed from his throne, rising to his feet and pulling a modern submachine gun from beneath his ceremonial robes. "The Laurent bloodline has ordered the dissolution! Kill them all!"
In an instant, the ceremony transformed into a battlefield. Four of the masked magistrates drew weapons and opened fire on their peers across the semicircle of thrones. Screams erupted as ancient loyalties fractured in a split second. The Council was not a unified body—it was a nest of vipers that had been waiting for this exact moment to slaughter one another for control of the ledger.
Daniel didn't hesitate. In one fluid motion, he drew his weapon, firing two controlled rounds into a sentry who was raising an assault rifle on the left flank. "Emma! Down! Behind the altar!"
Emma grabbed Lily by the waist and tackled her to the cold marble floor behind the massive white stone altar just as a volley of automatic fire chewed through the air, carving deep trenches into the ancient wood of the choir stalls.
Clara dropped beside them, drawing a sleek silver pistol from her own robes. "The Council wasn't supposed to know the ledger's final directive!" she yelled over the deafening roar of gunfire. "They thought the Seventh Sovereign was coming to lead them—not to execute them!"
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"You lied to us!" Emma screamed, shielding Lily’s head with her body as stone splinters rained down on them.
"I didn't lie about your daughter’s power!" Clara fired three rounds over the lip of the altar, dropping an advancing guard. "They aren't going to let anyone leave this island alive! If that book burns, the codes are lost forever!"
