11 Chapter 11 – Silver Verse Trial
Cyr locked eyes with him. “I want to feel everything.”
“They can try.”
Cyr, in his wheeled throne, greeted them without rising. “Compromised how,
Governor?”
He raised his hand, and the wolves bent their heads.
Silence fell.
The wolves tore at phantom wounds—old injuries, guilt, fire. His body trembled. Braces
creaked.
“You think I’m afraid of legends?” Cyr cut in. “I am the last Ulmir. My mind is sharp. My
will unbroken.”
Later, in his chamber, Cyr sat with Varek by the fire.
The beasts vanished.
Cyr bit down on a scream.
–
“Of us.”
She signed weakly: *Of me?*
“Prince Cyr,” he said, bowing only slightly. “We’re here to ensure the northern territories are not… compromised.”
The test chamber was a war hall turned arena.
Cyr leaned forward, voice ice. “If I pass, you never* speak of removing me again. And you never touch her.”
Cyr wheeled himself into the center.
Varek grunted. “Or what she’s becoming”
Cyr’s jaw clenched. “Of course he did.”
“She needs rest,” the medic whispered, checking the pale girl’s pulse. “That whisper spell… tore half her vocal lining.”
“I know.”
“She saved me again,” he murmured. “And I’ve barely touched the truth of what she is.”
Cyr’s breathing hitched. His left hand twitched.
He whispered, “They’re afraid now.”
Captain Varek stood at the door, pale beneath his scars. “He brought an entire audit team. Armed.”
She reached into her sleeve and handed him a folded paper.
Varek exhaled. “Then we prepare.”
Cyr’s silver eyes sharpened. “Now I protect *her*”
No one spoke.
“You should send her away.”
The constructs snarled and lunged.
Eileen waited behind the curtain, pale but standing.
Mages began their chant.
“She used Silver Verse,” the captain said. “In a *public* test.”
She nodded faintly.
Cyr raised a hand.
And the girl who once wore silence like armor…
Pain exploded behind his eyes.
*You would’ve passed without me.*
Captain Varek growled, “He’s the last heir. You don’t—”
He turned to the stunned nobles. “And if you still doubt me, challenge me *publicly*— not with whispers, but blades.”
The wolves took shape-smoky beasts with glowing eyes.
“I felt it,” he whispered. “Like a thread pulling me back from the edge.”
“And now?” Varek asked.
The main hall echoed with bootsteps and cold authority.
“She’s under my protection.”
Cyr looked up slowly from Eileen’s bedside.
His eyes gleamed silver.
Governor Thorn stood frozen.
His spine straightened.
“You used forbidden resonance-”
Cyr’s aura-once flickering red-flared to white.
From behind the curtain, a soft hum vibrated the air.
Mages gathered at four points, summoning spectral wolves-constructs of energy meant to attack the subject’s mind.
“You cheated,” he hissed. “Someone interfered.”
“No more tonight,” he said. “Just stay.”
Cyr stroked a stray lock of hair from Eileen’s temple. “She spoke. To protect me.”
Cyr turned his chair and rolled away.
Barely audible.
Governor Thorn dismounted in black armor, flanked by his personal inquisitors.
Now had a voice strong enough to shatter empires.
Cyr looked out at the aurora-lit night.
Murmurs spread.
“I *won’t.*”
Cyr reached her. “That was you.”
The spectral wolves paused mid-leap.
She leaned her forehead against his.
Within, a prince who had nothing left to lose finally understood what he had to protect-
Thorn offered a cold smile. “There are whispers, sire. That your mind-once brilliant- is now… unstable.”
Thorn swallowed. “Test complete. The prince… is competent.”
“No,” he said, gripping her hand. “I would’ve bled. You gave me clarity.”
Thorn blinked. “You’re in no place to bargain.”
Outside, the citadel snow glowed silver.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “But on one condition.”
A single silver note.
She tried to speak-but pain flickered behind her eyes.
Thorn continued, “Today, you will undergo a psychic resonance test. Refusal will be seen as proof of deterioration.”
“They’ll hunt her now.”
Thorn’s smile faltered. “The mute maid?”
“The governor’s here.”
Cyr said nothing,
Cyr wheeled forward slowly. “I passed. You said nothing of *how*”
And then-
Thorn raised a brow. “No sedatives?”
The mages gasped.
“Fall,” Thorn whispered.
