Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Outside…

The Choir stopped in front of the building.

One of them raised a pale hand.

They sang.

No mouths moved.

Still, the sky screamed.

Glass exploded. Tires burst. Dogs howled in basements.

Inside the penthouse, chandeliers cracked, walls buckled.

And my ears filled with her voice again, the First Siren.

“Sing back, little flame. Or be swallowed.”

I opened my mouth.
And sang.

A single note.

High. Clean. Angry.

The Choir froze.

Then every single one of them turned their heads, up. Toward me.

And bowed.

Vexx stared at me like I was the sun and a gun all at once.

“What the hell did you just do?”

I was trembling, breathing hard.

“I answered them.”

The velvet throne in the vault pulsed in the silence that followed.

It knew.

So did I.

I wasn’t just a voice anymore.

I was a call.

And the Choir… had answered. The velvet throne pulsed beneath the floorboards like a second heartbeat. It hadn't moved, hadn't grown, but it felt bigger now. Heavier. Like it had roots stretching through the city’s bones.

And now… the Choir waited.

Down in the street, twelve veiled sirens still knelt. Silent. Still. Their robes rippled in wind that didn’t touch anything else. The world around them held its breath.

Inside the penthouse, Vexx stared at me like I’d turned into something he couldn’t hold.

“You didn’t just answer them,” he said, voice low. “You commanded them.”

I shook my head, dizzy. “I don’t know what I did. It just, came out. Like instinct.”

He moved toward me slowly, like I was a flame he didn’t want to startle.

“You sang one note, Kessia. And they bowed.”

I sat down hard on the edge of the piano bench, hands shaking. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re the one they were waiting for.”

My laugh cracked. “Great. I never wanted to be anyone’s chosen. I just wanted to teach music. Live quiet. Maybe fall in love with someone that didn’t own a murder empire.”

His expression didn’t change.

“You didn’t fall in love with me,” he said.

I looked at him.

He stepped closer. “You fell in love with the only one who didn’t flinch when you sang.”

I didn’t deny it.

Didn’t say it out loud either.

Because it didn’t matter.

Not when the Choir was rising.

Downstairs…

Drekk paced just behind the front entrance, flanked by six armed wolves and two panther shifters from the southern territories Vexx had once absorbed.

“What the hell are those things?” one of the panthers hissed.

Drekk growled, jaw tense. “Old magic. Not ours.”

“They’re not attacking.”

“They’re singing. That’s worse.”

He turned to one of the wolves. “Get a frequency scan going. I want to know if they’re broadcasting to anyone outside the city.”

Then he paused.

Because one of the sirens stood up.

And she spoke.

Just one word.

“Kessia.”

No one else moved.

Drekk’s fur rippled. “What do they want?”

The siren’s face turned slightly, toward the building, toward the penthouse, toward me.

“We await her command.”

Back upstairs…

Vexx stared out the glass, fists clenched at his sides. “They’re waiting for you to tell them what to do.”

“I didn’t ask for this,” I whispered.

“That doesn’t matter anymore. You sang. They heard.”

He turned to me. “And now the city will too.”

I shook my head. “This isn’t my war.”

His voice hardened. “It is now. Because if you don’t lead them, someone else will. And if it’s Grell...”

I stood, chest tight. “I won’t let that happen.”

The throne pulsed again.

I felt it through my bones.

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

“Open the doors,” I said.

Vexx blinked. “Kessia...”

“I said open them. Let them in.”

“You don’t know what they’ll do once they’re inside.”

“Yes,” I said, walking toward the elevator. “But I know what I’ll do if they try anything.”

His eyes narrowed with a mix of awe and dread. “And what’s that?”

I smiled.

“I’ll sing.”

Minutes later…

The doors opened.

One by one, the Choir entered Vexx’s tower.

No weapons.

No words.

Just veiled silence and the sound of their bare feet on marble.

I stood in the vault room.

Waiting.

The velvet throne shimmered behind me like a shadow made solid.

The first siren entered last.

She stood before me, veil fluttering, head bowed.

“The Choir awaits your voice, Crowned One.”

I swallowed.

“No crown,” I whispered. “Not yet.”

She raised her head.

“No crown needed. You already wear it in your throat.”

Then she knelt.

And the others followed.

Twelve sirens.

Twelve voices that once shattered kingdoms.

Bowed to me.

I felt Vexx enter behind me.

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t interrupt.

Just watched.

And when I turned to look at him, I saw something I hadn’t before, not fear. Not lust.

But something like devotion.

“They’re yours,” he said softly.

I looked down at the Choir.

“No,” I replied. “They’re ours.”

And somewhere in the city, Grell felt it too.

Felt the shift.

Felt the new Alpha rising.

Not from blood.

Not from war.

But from a song the world was never meant to hear.