The moment I sat—
The world stopped pretending it was normal.
There was no dramatic lightning.
No ancient choir.
No helpful narrator explaining consequences.
Just silence.
Deep.
Absolute.
The kind of silence that existed before kingdoms were invented and after they were buried.
The throne was cold.
Then—
It wasn't.
Pain exploded through every vein in my body.
Interesting.
Very rude.
Very interesting.
I did not scream.
Mostly because Lucian was still standing there, and I refused to let a dead king judge my pain tolerance.
The black stone beneath me pulsed like a living heart.
Crimson veins spread across the throne, across the chamber floor, across the pillars—like blood remembering how to become law.
The mark near my neck burned.
No.
Not burnt.
Awakened.
Every blood bond answered.
Seraphina.
Selene.
Lilith.
Valeria.
All four.
At once.
The connection snapped open like a door breaking.
I felt everything.
Seraphina's sharp panic.
Selene's controlled fear.
Lilith's royal calm cracking.
Valeria's violent instinct to set religion on fire.
Honestly?
Comforting.
The throne liked drama.
Good.
So did I.
Then—
The chamber disappeared.
And I was somewhere else.
Again.
Because apparently, ancient furniture loved hallucinations.
A battlefield.
Ash.
Crimson sky.
Broken banners.
A world after losing the argument with war.
At the centre—
Ten women stood around a fallen throne.
The queens.
Not my wives.
The originals.
The first ten.
And every one of them looked like someone history regretted underestimating.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Covered in blood and grief.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Lucian stood before them.
Alive.
Tired.
And smiling like a man who had already decided to be unreasonable.
Of course.
I watched.
Because sometimes memory was less vision and more emotional assault.
One queen stepped forward first.
Black hair.
Crimson eyes.
Fire hidden inside elegance.
Seraphina's bloodline.
She grabbed his arm.
"You are not staying."
Not a request.
Order.
Good.
I respected her immediately.
Lucian smiled sadly.
"I am."
Another queen—
silver hair.
Moonlight and winter.
Selene's ancestor.
She said quietly—
"If you stay, you die."
Lucian answered—
"If I leave, all of you die slower."
Ah.
There it was.
Ancient king logic.
Beautiful.
Terrible.
The third—
gold and silver hair.
Royal calm sharper than swords.
Lilith's bloodline.
She looked at him like queens looked at impossible men.
"With us."
A pause.
"Choose once in your life to be selfish."
That one hurt.
Even secondhand.
Lucian stepped closer to her.
Touched her face gently.
And whispered—
"I did."
His eyes moved across all ten women.
"Ten times."
Silence.
Absolute.
Pain dressed as romance.
Amazing.
Valeria's ancestor laughed through tears.
Red hair.
Wild.
Dangerous.
Of course.
"I hate you."
Lucian nodded.
"I know."
She kissed him anyway.
Honestly?
Perfect.
That tracked.
The memory twisted.
Faster now.
Blood.
Silver blades.
Church bells.
Betrayal enters like prayer dressed as murder.
The doors are breaking.
Hunters.
Priests.
Kings were dying with elegance because, apparently, dramatic exits were genetic.
Lucian turned one final time.
Looked at all ten queens.
And said—
"Live long enough to choose happiness.
Even if it is without me."
Then—
darkness.
The kind that hurt.
The kind that remembered.
I opened my eyes sharply.
Back in the throne chamber.
Breathing too fast.
Hands gripping a black stone.
The throne was alive beneath me.
And Lucian—
gone.
Not absent.
Finished.
The room shook.
The crimson veins across the floor glowed brighter.
The throne had made its decision.
Good.
Hopefully in my favour.
Above—
far above—
I felt it.
The bonds.
My queens.
Their emotions hit like storms.
Seraphina's fear is turning into fury.
Selene's quiet panic.
Lilith's command cuts through noble restraint.
Valeria's immediate plan is to commit holy crimes.
And then—
their power.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Because the moment the throne accepted me—
Their bloodlines answered.
I could feel it.
Evolution.
Change.
Seraphina's Crimson Shadow Flame is becoming deeper.
Darker.
Royal.
Selene's Moon Frost bloodline is expanding like winter, learning sovereignty.
Lilith's royal bloodline is sharpening into something older than nobility.
Valeria's Warfang bloodline is becoming pure predatory war.
There it was.
The truth.
Not just my ascension.
Ours.
The King rose.
The Queens followed.
Perfect.
Exactly as it should be.
The chamber doors above exploded open.
Literally.
I smiled.
Valeria.
Obviously.
Four figures rushed down the stairs like beautiful violence.
Seraphina first.
Of course.
She crossed the chamber in seconds and stopped in front of the throne.
Crimson eyes wide.
Not noble.
Not calm.
Only real.
Good.
I preferred real.
She touched my face, like confirming I still existed.
"You are alive."
I smiled faintly.
"Your confidence wounds me."
She kissed me.
Immediately.
Not elegant.
Not controlled.
Relief.
Possession.
Home.
When she pulled back, her voice was shaking.
Tiny.
Rare.
"Do not do that again."
I nodded.
Reasonable request.
No promises.
Selene arrived next.
She said nothing.
Just touched my hand.
Cool.
Steady.
Moonlight is proving itself real.
Then she kissed me, too.
Quiet.
Soft.
Dangerous because it mattered.
Lilith stood before the throne.
Studying me.
Royal.
Still.
Then—
She smiled.
Small.
Perfect.
And knelt.
Silence.
Absolute.
I stared.
"Lilith—"
She looked up.
Future queen.
Present threat.
And said calmly—
"My king."
Well.
That was new.
And very bad for my emotional stability.
Valeria walked past her.
Looked at the throne.
Looked at me.
And grinned like war itself.
"Good."
She climbed directly onto the arm of the throne.
Absolutely illegal behaviour.
Perfect.
"I was getting bored."
Then she kissed me, too.
Fire.
Chaos.
Beautiful trouble.
Exactly right.
Behind them—
Elena stood on the stairs.
Watching.
Quiet.
Like someone seeing history choose a different ending.
Our eyes met.
And for the first time—
The Saint smiled without sadness.
Good.
Maybe some ghosts deserved peace, too.
I sat on the throne of the First King.
Four queens before me.
Bloodline awakened.
Heaven above.
War waiting.
And I understood something simple.
This was not destiny.
This was a choice.
Lucian had protected the past.
I would protect the future.
And if Heaven disagreed—
It could take a number.
Because kings were busy.