Jayden stood with his head high and tried to maintain a determined look on his face. He stood by Elizah's side in the surprisingly empty council room from the days before. It was odd.

He assumed it was time for the verdict, but it made no sense that no one was there. The ruling would have been a public announcement like the trial itself.

The guards had brought him, and Elizah from the dungeons, but not a word was said during the entire journey. Jayden tried to hide his resentment at how the guards had literally dragged Elizah's limp body down the hallways to the council room. Still, he was starting to lose control of his composure when he saw Noxaura sneer as she stood at the edge of the room.

His hands went to his neck, where the amulet hung and was hidden under his tunic, but he knew the time wasn't right just yet. He let his hands fall back to his sides.

"What did you want us here for?" Jayden asked, his voice steady, but his gaze narrowed. He was trying not to lash out his frustrations and question her actions, but he knew now wasn't the time.

"Oh, my dear son. I've with a verdict for the both of you," Noxaura said with a playful smile.

Jayden was solemn as he stood and watched Noxaura pace towards him.

"I see your girl isn't doing so well. But I expected much worse by now," Noxaura laughed, and Jayden's fury grew.

"You did this to her and act like nothing was your fault. What in the name of the spirits do you mean that she was supposed to be worse by now?" Jayden asked, and he was almost shouting with all his strength, "And if this truly was for the verdict, why is there no member of the council here other than you?"

"I see her beliefs have also rubbed off on you. No surprise. When you hang out with a lowlife like her, that's what will happen. I expected that she was already dead by now, saving me one job. Still, you wouldn't let that happen," Noxaura said with a laugh and completely ignored Jayden's question.

"Where is father?" Jayden asked as his hands shook. He asked again. He was controlling himself, but any second he would end up running up and striking Noxaura with a blade of flame. Her smirk was not helping.

"Oh, he is unwell," Noxaura said as she made her way up to Jayden's side and placed her hand on his chin.

"His work is done, and I no longer have someone more powerful than me," She whispered as she held Jayden by the chin, and his face turned into utter despair.

"H--o-w," Jayden managed as tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, from what her words could imply. But he knew this could just be her toying with his emotions, so he kept quiet.

"Well let's get to the verdict before the prince floods the entire hall with his tears shall we," Noxaura said as she turned on her heel and paced to the single throne before she sat down.

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"Prince Jayden, you are hereby stripped down from your power as the royal heir and are banished from Zameronia. We give you one week to leave," she recited from a scroll that she held in his hands.

Jayden barely flinched. That verdict wasn't something that hit him hard, but he was still shocked by what Noxaura had said before the ruling.

"Lady Elizah Larkspear has been found guilty of crimes of magic use and bewitching the young prince. She will be executed in the town square at sunrise tomorrow," Noxaura read out. That was where Jayden's restraint on his fury broke.

"How dare you? And why isn't this a public reveal?" Jayden screamed out, and he stood up. His face was streaked with a mix of tears and grime with flecks of blood. He looked far from royal then.

"Whatever do you mean? Do you know how much the two of you have tainted the name of the Larkspear empire I have worked so hard to cultivate? Your actions are already rumours that have spread throughout the territories of our allies. I don't need htis verdict to make things worse," Noxaura asked, and her emerald eyes glowed with rage.

"Do you really want to take everything I love from me?" Jayden shouted, and Noxaura only smiled as she made her way to Jayden.

"I am doing what you did to me," she purred and dismissed the court with a single wave of her palm.

"You took my happiness from me. Now it's time you see how I felt all this time," Noxaura said as she glared at Jayden from the other end of the room.

Jayden was blinded by rage. He felt the flames growing at his fingertips. He swore under his breath before he uttered one silent prayer to the spirits before putting his palm on the cold surface of the amulet on his neck.

The next thing he knew, he was engulfed in a ball of flames that was snowballing. He tried to control it, but there was no hope. It set the carpets, the draperies, the thrones, everything on fire rapidly and slowly. Smoke engulfed the whole room.

Jayden could barely see anything in this enhancement of his magic, and his eyes were starting to close.

Is this the end for me? He wondered as the world began to spin, and he couldn't see a thing.

Everything around him was on fire. His vision began to blur as he noticed only orange surrounding the entire area.

Elizah, I'm sorry. He only thought to himself as his eyes closed and he collapsed on the ground amid the burning palace.

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An ordinary onlooker just watched as the castle was engulfed in flames. The rest of the crowd tried to douse the fire with buckets of water, but the fire only rose more.

The ground shook with great intensity, and many began to run in various directions. Still, this person remained rooted to the ground, watching whatever was going on. There was every reason to run away, but this person kept staying there no matter what other people said and screamed at them.

"I feel the power in my veins. Thrumming and screaming out at me," there was a voice by their side, and a woman in a black cloak appeared.

"I see. Then it has worked," the onlooker said as they watched the cracks appear in the ground.

"What is your plan?" the woman asked the onlooker.

"To regain the power I once had, which these stupid humans stole away from me," the onlooker said before they looked up to see the crystalline tower slowly rising from the cracks in the ground.

"Is that…" the woman gaped at the small shrine that emerged seamlessly from the ground.

"Yes. We're one step closer to gaining our powers," the onlooker said before they began to walk towards the burning palace with a smile on their face.