The Thirteenth Ember - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Three Days Later The Rebellion’s Forest Encampment
They arrived just after dusk.
Aeryn stepped through the veil of branches first, Kael close behind. The low chatter of guards stopped instantly. Torches flickered higher. Someone gasped.
She had expected relief.
What she saw was silence.
Not out of suspicion.
But out of reverence.
Dozens of rebels emerged from tents and makeshift shelters. They stared not just at Aeryn’s return but at the quiet glow around her. Her embermark, no longer just a sigil, pulsed with soft light even in the night air. The air itself shifted subtly around her body, as if the wind had learned to follow her.
Kael held her hand.
But they both knew something had changed.
They weren’t just returning.
They were arriving as something else.
Liora reached them first.
She didn’t speak just wrapped Aeryn in a hug so tight it nearly knocked the breath from her.
“You came back,” she whispered. “Gods, I didn’t think”
“I had to,” Aeryn replied, holding her just as tightly.
“You’re glowing,” Liora whispered, stepping back, eyes wide.
“She’s growing,” Aeryn said, placing her hand gently on her belly.
Liora’s expression trembled between awe and terror.
“She?”
Aeryn nodded. “And she remembers.”
Hours later Command Tent
The council meeting was tense.
General Rhys leaned forward, his eyes flicking between Aeryn and Kael.
“You killed Varenth.”
Aeryn’s voice was calm. “Yes.”
“And in doing so,” he continued, “you’ve not only drawn every highblood blade in the Court, but awakened every slumbering ally they’ve kept silent for a decade.”
Kael crossed his arms. “So what would you have preferred? That we let him take her? The child?”
Rhys bristled. “I would’ve preferred time. Planning.”
Aeryn stepped forward. “There is no time. The war has already changed. And it didn’t ask your permission.”
Silence fell.
Then Liora cleared her throat gently. “We have more followers now than ever. Across four provinces. When word of the Seer’s death spreads… people will rally.”
“Or panic,” Rhys muttered.
Aeryn met his gaze. “Either way, the world is moving.”
And inside her, the child kicked softly but firmly.
Kael’s hand reached for hers beneath the table.
Only she felt how it burned.
That night Near the edge of camp
In a forgotten tent, beneath old cloth and near the wood line, a man waited.
His name in the camp was Drevan, a medic’s assistant who kept to himself, polite, quiet, useful.
But in his own mind, he remembered his true name.
Thaevis.
The Court had placed him here four years ago.
He had waited. Reported. Slept.
And now awakened.
A letter sealed in bone ash had arrived that morning, hidden in a merchant’s crate of fire salts.
It bore one line:
Control the Emberborn. Or extinguish the child.
Thaevis closed the letter slowly.
And smiled.
Meanwhile Aeryn’s Tent
She couldn’t sleep.
The stars above were too bright. The fire in her belly too warm. And the heartbeat beneath her ribs no longer moved alone.
She sat up slowly, hand resting on her stomach.
“Are you… listening?” she whispered.
There was no answer.
But the tent's fabric fluttered without wind.
Kael stirred beside her, eyes blinking open.
“Another dream?”
She nodded slowly. “She’s not dreaming. She’s thinking.”
He sat up, brushing his thumb over her shoulder.
“She’s learning?”
“No,” Aeryn whispered.
“She’s waiting.”
The next morning In the medic tent
Drevan moved quietly.
He cleaned bandages, sorted tonics. Smiled at patients.
And watched.
Always watched.
Aeryn passed by once, her cloak brushing the tent’s open flap. Her face turned slightly. For a moment, her eyes met his.
She paused.
Then moved on.
The mark on his wrist burned where he kept the Court’s sigil hidden under false skin.
She felt it.
His smile faded.
He would have to move faster than planned.
Later Private Campfire
Aeryn sat alone, watching a kettle boil over fire. Kael was scouting the eastern perimeter. Liora was in council again.
She took the silence gratefully.
Until a presence stirred behind her.
“May I sit?”
It was Drevan smiling kindly, his hands folded, eyes downcast.
She gestured.
He took the far side of the fire.
“You’ve grown strong,” he said gently. “The camp… they speak of you like prophecy.”
Aeryn studied him. “Do they?”
Drevan nodded. “But prophecy is a dangerous thing. Sometimes it makes leaders… forget they’re human.”
A flicker of unease sparked in her.
But she said nothing.
He stood a few minutes later, bowing politely.
“If you need anything,” he said, “I’m always here.”
As he turned, her embermark flared.
She grabbed his wrist as he passed.
And felt cold.
Not skin.
Magic.
His face changed for only half a second just enough.
He twisted away sharply, pulled from her grip and disappeared into the crowd.
She didn’t shout.
She didn’t run.
She stood.
And whispered into the flame:
“Kael.”