The council chamber was colder than Seraphina expected — not in temperature, but in presence. The kind of cold that whispered secrets into your bones and left you hollow when it was done.
She stood at the center of the circle, surrounded by high-backed chairs filled with Crestwood's elite. They weren't teachers. They weren't staff. They were the ones who really ran the academy the ones who had let her be pampered like a porcelain doll, all while pulling the strings behind her back.
"This isn't about discipline," one of them said, tapping a manila folder on the desk. "It's about containment."
Seraphina's gaze didn't waver. "Contain what?"
"You," the woman replied simply. "Your lineage. Your power. And your mother's legacy."
The screen behind the council flickered to life. Video footage, grainy and flickering, played: a woman strapped to a medical table, her blonde hair soaked in sweat. Her eyes Seraphina's eyes — fluttered as machines beeped around her.
Her mother. Alive.
Seraphina's heart stopped.
"She's not dead," she whispered.
"Technically," the man in the center replied, "she's a part of the Garden Initiative. Phase Three."
The floor tilted beneath her. The Garden Project wasn't just about academic control or social manipulation. It was genetic. Generational. Engineered.
Her whole life every crown, every secret party, every student vote — had been orchestrated. Not for her benefit. But as a test.
A test subject.
"Why?" Her voice cracked. "Why lie to me? Why keep her—like that?"
"Because the last time she tried to reveal the truth," the woman said, her expression void of emotion, "people died. Students died."
Seraphina's hands curled into fists. "And what now? You think I'll just sit quietly like I've always done?"
A second screen lit up. Photos. Red string. A map of Crestwood beneath the school. The tunnels. The rooms. Her name, circled in red.
Then Levi's. Then Jaxon's.
Two pawns. One crown.
Jaxon stepped forward from the shadows, lips tight. "I tried to stop this."
"You knew," she whispered. "You knew and you let them"
"I thought I was protecting you!" he snapped. "I thought"
Levi appeared in the doorway, bleeding from a split lip. "They locked me up. Said I was compromised. I escaped when I heard what they planned."
The council didn't flinch. One of them calmly hit a button on the table. A countdown appeared on the wall.
Fifteen minutes.
"What is that?" Levi growled.
"Protocol V," said the man. "Vale fails, Crestwood resets."
Seraphina laughed.
Not sweetly. Not politely. Not like a princess.
But like a queen who'd finally seen the chessboard for what it was.
"I'm not a failure," she said, stepping forward. "I'm the storm you created."
She grabbed the emergency intercom panel off the wall and pressed the override.
"All students. Get out. Now. You have ten minutes before Crestwood goes dark. This is not a drill."
The council leapt to their feet, shouting. Guards lunged. But Seraphina ducked past Levi, who threw a punch, and slammed her hand onto the palm scanner embedded in the panel behind the screen.
Green light.
ACCESS GRANTED: GARDEN PROTOCOL OVERRIDE
Files spilled open. Documents. Maps. Schedules. Hidden experiments.
Her voice rang clear through the room.
"I was pampered by all. But I was never your queen."
She looked at Jaxon. "You betrayed me."
She looked at Levi. "You tried to save me."
And then she looked at the council, every inch of her drenched in wrath.
"I will burn this place to the ground."
The chamber exploded into motion. Sirens screamed. The countdown dropped to 00:09:59.
And Seraphina Vale smiled, because for once, she wasn't being protected.
She was done being protected.
She was dangerous now.