The ancient war table of House Brackwood, carved from Blackfire Oak and etched with silver runes, gleamed beneath the flickering light of floating crystal lanterns. Around it stood the reborn heirs of vengeance.
Saelar Velgaeron, no longer Myrelion, took his place at the head of the table. His eyes were calm, but beneath them burned a storm decades in the making.
Bramir Brackwood stood to his left, his older brother in name, but now a devoted commander to his Emperor.
> "The time for silence has passed," Bramir began. "Elythara festers under your uncle's rule. If we wait longer, our enemies grow stronger."
Across from him, Myrcella D'Arvenelle, the elf noblewoman now betrothed to Saelar, sat composed with a stack of scrolls and territorial maps spread before her.
> "We control strategic points in the northeast," she said, unfurling a parchment. "The Kingdom of Avareth is prepared to supply us with elite elven archers, but not until we cripple House Vrael in the south. They're sworn to the Empress and act as her dagger in the underbelly."
Alicent Malveris twirled a lock of her silver hair with one finger while casting illusions of magical creatures across the table for emphasis.
> "We should strike with illusion and subterfuge first," she offered. "Assassinations, sabotage. Create paranoia. Let the Empress suspect everyone but us."
A grizzled, one-eyed war veteran named General Kaelen Varn, a loyalist to the late Kevin Brackwood, spoke next.
> "We don't have the numbers to storm the capital yet. Not without bloodshed that will turn neutral provinces against us. We need more legions, and we need the people to believe you are their rightful Emperor."
Saelar nodded. "Then we will give them truth… and symbols."
He placed a medallion on the table—his mother's imperial sigil, the Phoenix Crown.
> "This will be carried by every soldier who swears to the Phoenix Banner. We march not as rebels, but as restorers of justice."
The youngest among them, a teenage Black Thorn assassin named Kerrin, raised a hand.
> "We've infiltrated six noble households already. If you give the word, I can silence the Empress's informants within a week."
Bramir gave a proud nod. "Kerrin's unit is yours, Saelar. Black Thorn is loyal."
Alicent leaned back with a smile.
> "So… we're playing with fire, steel, and shadows. Just how I like it."