Chapter 71

Kingdom of Ashes.

Ash still fell from the skies. It drifted across Edenfall like snow, ghosting the city in soft grays and silver. The cathedral has burned to its bones.

And though, the infection had died with Cilax, the scars left behind will never be undone.

I stood at the Syndicate Tower’s eastern balcony, watching the sunrise through the veil of smoke. My eyes were hollow, my body still healing.

The antiviral compound seared my veins when I injected it during the fight with Cilax. I’d passed out before his body hit the ground.

Three days later, I’d awaken a new woman.

Not a survivor. A Leader.

Behind me, the war room buzzed. Soraya gave updates to the emergency command council. Luca monitored Edenfall’s neural frequency grid, ensuring Cilax’s infection hadn’t buried secondary code.

Lucia was prepping the syndicate guard to reclaim the outer perimeter.

But I didn’t move. Not yet.

Not until I understood what my victory had caused.

Damian entered without knocking. He always does that now.

I turned my head slightly but didn’t greet him. I couldn’t, not with the way my voice still shook when I try to sound whole.

“Luca stabilized the firewall,” he said. “We traced the last signal from Cilax spinal node. It came from inside Edenfall’s underground labs.”

I didn’t look surprised. “The Adam labs?”

“Worse. The Eden project.”

I turned slowly. “The project was shut down decades ago.”

Damian met my eyes. “Then why is your father still funding it?”

Silence.

He stepped closer. “You need to see what’s down there.”

“I need to lead, Damian,” I said, my voice hoarse. “If I disappear again, even for a day, Edenfall collapses.”

His eyes softened. “Then let it. Just long enough for you to find what kind of kingdom you’re ruling.”

The tunnel of Eden project was buried layers of steel and time. It took Lucia and Luca and a full clearance team to breach it.

As the light flickered on, I stepped into the vault.

Rows of cryotanks lined the walls.

Dozens.

Some broken, some still glowing blue.

Damian moved beside me, flashlight cutting through the cold mist.

“Jesus,” Soraya whispered. “What is this place?”

“The future,” Luca said grimly. “Or what Alexander thought it should look like.”

We reached the center chamber.

And there, at the heart of the vault, was a single chamber larger than the rest. Locked. Reinforced. A monitor flickered to life when I approach.

Project: Eden-V1.0. Subject name. Lucian Reyes. Status. Alive.

My stomach twisted.

“Lucian?” Soraya breathed. “As in your…uncle?”

“No,” I whispered. “My father’s first successful subject. The one her erased from the records.”

Damian glanced at me. “You knew?”

“I suspected.”

I moved toward the control panel, fingers trembling as I enetered my father’s encrypted key.

The cryochamber hissed. Steam spilled out.

And a man stepped forward. Tall. Pale. Eyes like frozen quartz.

He looked…like Alexander Reyes. Only younger. Sharper.

More deadly. He stared at me.

“You’re his daughter,” he said flatly.

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t have woken me.”

The return to the syndicate Tower was quiet.

Lucian Reyes sat handcuffed and silent in the interrogation room. His presence in Edenfall was a spark the city wouldn’t afford.

If word gets out there that Alexander’s first weapon was alive…

Everything would burn again.

I stood with Damian behind the glass.

“He’s not just infected,” I said. “He’s something else.”

“Hybrid?” Damian asked.

“No. Clean,” Luca said, walking in. “He was engineered. Not infected. Your father used the virus to correct his genetics. Make him resistant. Enhanced.”

Soroya added. “Which means if Cilax got his serum from anywhere, it base on this.”

My thoughts raced.

My father didn’t just create a weapon. He created two.

Cilax was unstable. But Lucian?

Lucian was the original blueprint.

Inside the room, I sat across my uncle. He regarded me as a mix of calculation and boredom.

“Why did he put you on ice?” I asked.

Lucian shrugged. “I became dangerous. Not obedient enough. He couldn’t kill me. He preserved me. In case the world needed saving. Or destroying.”

“You were his plan B.”

“I was his masterpiece.”

I leaned forward. “And what are you now?”

He smirked. “Awake.”

That night, the council met in secret. Half wanted Lucian executed immediately. The other half wanted to study him.

I had the final vote.

Damian waited until the chamber cleared. “You’re not going to kill him.”

“No.”

“You’re not going to let him go either.”

“No.”

He folded his arms. “So what’s your play?”

I stared at the skyline.

“The city is still unstable. The infection is gone, but the memory of fear…lingers. People need a symbol.”

“Lucian isn’t a symbol,” he said. “He’s a threat.”

I turned to him. “So was I. So were you.”

He shook his head. “This is dangerous.”

“So is every decision I’ve made since the day I signed the contract with you.”

He went quiet.

“I’m not the girl who wanted to revenge anymore,” i said. “I’m the woman who inherited an empire of ash.”

I met Lucian again before dawn.

I offered him a choice. “Serve Edenfall. Or rot beneath it.”

Lucian didn’t flinch. “And if I serve?”

“You stay in the shadows. Train my soldiers. Clean the filth from the underground. Protect the people.”

He studied me. “You’ll never trust me.”

“No.”

“And I’ll never be free.”

“No.”

He smirked. “Sounds like family.”

One week later, Edenfall stabilized.

The infection had stopped spreading. The syndicate’s new protocols held. Public morales rose as civilian board casts shared news of the “Cilax Coup.” Being stopped by a coalition of elite agents.

No one mentioned Lucian. Or the Eden project. Or how close the city had come close to absolute collapse.

But behind the curtain, my world changed.

I no longer walked as a daughter of power.

I reigned as it’s queen.

In our penthouse, Damian watched me work.

For hours, I read through encrypted files Alexander had left hidden behind false vaults. Messages. Plans. Secrets.

I moved like someone who would never rest again.

He stepped behind me, hands on my shoulders.

“You don’t have to carry this alone.”

“I already do.”

“You don’t have to stay alone.”

I turned. And this time, I let him kiss me. It wasn’t urgent or angry.

It was full of grief. Of hope.

Or everything we’d lost to become where we are now.

When I pulled back, my voice was barely a whisper.

“You were my enemy. My captor. My devil.”

He brushed his thumb against my cheek. “And you were my punishment.”

I smiled bitterly. “And now?”

He smiled back. “Now we burn together.”