Chapter Forty-Two: Sylvia

Sylvia surveys Omal’s massed forces and deduces Felix engineered Queen Hanan’s death to lure her into the throne room, crown himself, and frame her for regicide. Recognizing that killing Felix alone would ignite mutiny and war without securing Jasad, she resolves to break her fear of entrapment by embracing absolute magic.

Rejecting the false crown, Sylvia vows Felix will be forgotten. As archers and spearmen take aim, she abandons restraint and summons immense kitmers—larger, deadlier replicas of Rovial’s creatures—into the hall. The kitmers tear through the guards despite layered precautions.

Targeting the source, Sylvia silently commands a kitmer to strike Felix. It severs his head, ending his brief reign. She feels no triumph, only the consuming presence of her magic, which now demands primacy over Sylvia’s identities.

Seizing the moment, Sylvia orders the kitmers to spread across the land carrying her voice: Omal’s throne has fallen and the Malika of Jasad calls her people home before Nuzret Kamel. The kitmers shatter the dome and surge into the sky, forming Jasad’s symbol over the palace before scattering.

Preparing proof for the villagers, she retrieves Felix’s head, replaces his crown, and confronts unsettling reflections and whispers from her own magic. She then sets the corpses ablaze, ensuring none are spared in death rites. Alone amid the ruin, Sylvia accepts that survival is not victory but her unending punishment.