His Bride, Her Revenge

Chapter 134: A Crown of Lies

The throne room was silent, heavy with the weight of too many secrets and too many ghosts. Cambria stood before the fractured obsidian throne, the ancient seat of Vale, now a symbol not of glory, but of betrayal. The shattered fragments of the once-pristine court floor still bore the marks of the last battle Knox’s final gambit, Evelyn’s fall, and the storm Cambria had unleashed when she merged with the remnants of the God Engine.

She should have felt victorious.

But as her eyes traced the blood-darkened runes etched into the columns and the fading whispers of power clinging to the air, all she felt was the echo of truth and the lie it had been built upon.

"The people await your word, my Queen," said General Maeron quietly from her right. His armor bore the scars of the final rebellion, and though his voice was steady, there was a tremor in his eyes. "They need assurance. The resistance is fractured, but not fully broken. If we don’t move now..."

Cambria raised her hand.

"I know."

She walked forward, each step echoing against the cold, still chamber. The moment she stepped onto the dais, a rush of memory assaulted her her father’s cold smile, Evelyn’s tears, Knox’s twisted sense of justice. And behind it all, the voice she could no longer silence: Seraphine Vale. The queen who had created Project Pandora, the queen whose legacy Cambria now wore like a shackle around her throat.

"What if I’m no better than her?" Cambria whispered, not expecting an answer.

But she got one.

"You’re not," came a voice from behind.

She turned, expecting Maeron but it was Maddox. noveldrama

His tunic was torn, blood crusted at the edge of his brow, but his eyes stormy grey, always watching locked onto hers with a kind of quiet defiance that made her heart ache. "She created monsters. You’re trying to heal a kingdom."

Cambria looked away. "Healing built on lies."

"The truth is always a weapon," he said, stepping closer. "It depends on who wields it."

Before she could respond, a high-pitched tone vibrated through the throne room. It wasn’t sound it was resonance. Familiar. Unnatural.

Her spine straightened.

Pandora frequency.

Maeron drew his blade immediately, while Maddox stepped in front of her. From the far end of the hall, a figure emerged through the broken shadows.

Tall. Pale. Cloaked in the dark uniform of the defunct Research Circle.

And behind him, two more. Perfected soldiers. Eyes glowing faint blue. Weapons fused to their arms.

Maddox hissed. "I thought they were all deactivated!"

"They were," Cambria breathed, her voice trembling. "Unless... someone reactivated the second protocol."

The man stepped forward, pulling back his hood. His face was lined with faint scars, eyes cold and calculating. "My name is Dr. Elion Voss. Director of Phase Two."

"You should be dead," Maeron snapped. "The explosion at Orin’s Lab "

"Was staged," Voss cut in. "As was much of what you’ve been led to believe."

Cambria narrowed her eyes. "You’re part of the inner circle that built the Pandora Series."

Voss smiled faintly. "Not built. Perfected. Project Pandora wasn’t merely a weapon system it was a test. A filtration. We needed to see which lineage could survive the ultimate evolution. You were never meant to rule. You were meant to be consumed."

He nodded at one of the soldiers.

The weapon raised its arm, and a bolt of light surged forward directed not at Cambria, but at Maddox.

She didn’t think.

She threw herself forward, knocking him to the side just as the blast scorched past. It hit the pillar behind them, shattering the ancient stone in a burst of flame.

"Maddox!" she cried, as he groaned, holding his shoulder. Blood seeped through his sleeve.

"Still alive," he growled. "But they’ve upgraded."

Maeron lunged forward, engaging the first soldier. Steel clashed against synthetic muscle. The perfected didn’t flinch.

Cambria stood, her fingers sparking with the unstable remnants of the God Engine. Her connection to it had been fractured since the merger, but enough remained enough to fight back.

"You’re trying to restart the war," she said to Voss. "Why? The throne is yours for the taking if you serve the crown."

Voss chuckled. "I don’t serve thrones. I serve purpose. And yours... is nearly complete."

He gestured again, and this time, four more soldiers appeared from the shadows.

"We found the vault beneath the Temple of Cinders," Voss continued. "The first Queen’s research. Seraphine left behind far more than you’ve seen. The final protocol... it isn’t about ruling a kingdom. It’s about rebuilding the world."

"No," Cambria whispered, horror dawning. "You’re trying to activate Genesis."

Voss smiled. "So she did tell you."

Genesis.

The reset switch.

The contingency buried at the root of Project Pandora. A full system wipe of humanity leaving behind only those genetically modified to survive the next phase.

"I won’t let you do it," Cambria said, her voice cold as winter steel.

"You don’t have a choice," Voss said, and pressed a device to his neck.

Suddenly, Cambria screamed.

Her body buckled, pain coursing through every cell. It wasn’t just physical it was molecular. A command code, embedded in her DNA by Seraphine herself.

She was still bound to the protocol.

Maddox dragged her behind a column as Maeron tried to hold the line. "Cam! What’s happening?!"

"He’s... using the override code," she gasped. "I thought I destroyed it !"

"I’ll kill him," Maddox growled.

"No." She pushed herself up, vision swimming. "Not yet. We need to get to the Core Chamber. If Voss initiates Genesis, it’s over not just for us for everyone."

Maddox nodded, pulling her toward the back hall. "I’ll clear the path."

As they fled through the burning ruins of the old palace, Cambria’s mind raced.

The people believed the war was over.

They believed in her.

And now... all of it was about to be undone by the legacy she had inherited the legacy she thought she had destroyed.

But Seraphine’s shadow was long. And Voss... he was only the beginning.

Hours later.

They reached the Core Chamber beneath the palace where the remnants of the God Engine had been buried under ten layers of quantum locks.

Cambria placed her palm against the final gate. Her blood, encoded with the Queen’s mark, opened it with a groan of ancient machinery.

Inside was darkness.

But in the center of the chamber stood a new throne. Sleek. White. Glowing with soft pulsing veins of silver.

Maddox whispered, "That’s not... that wasn’t here before."

"No," Cambria said grimly. "This is Seraphine’s final gift."

And on the throne... sat Evelyn.

Alive.

Awake.

And changed.

Her eyes glowed with twin rings of gold. Her hair floated around her like static-charged silk. She wore a crown of white fire.

"Hello, sister," she said softly. "You weren’t supposed to find me yet."

Cambria staggered forward. "What have they done to you?"

"Nothing I didn’t choose," Evelyn said. "Voss offered me the truth. You offered me lies. I chose evolution."

"You’re activating Genesis," Cambria whispered. "You’ll kill everyone who doesn’t carry Pandora’s mark."

Evelyn stood.

"No," she said.

"I’m saving them."

And with a flick of her hand, she summoned the control orb.

The countdown began.

Genesis Protocol: 00:59:59

Cambria’s scream of rage echoed through the chamber.