Rogue Queen Rewrites Her Fate

“General! General! General!" The roar of fifteen thousand soldiers chanting my name was deafening.

We had done it. The Dragon Sovereignty had been driven back and the realm was once again, safe.

Beside me, Kaelene, my beloved mate, walked with his hand clasped in mine. Behind us, Liandrin, the woman who would be Empress, rode on a white charger.

She gave me a smile full of sisterly warmth that made the exhaustion in my bones feel worth it. She was more than a best friend to me… she was my sister.

We reached the central dais where the military council stood waiting. I turned to face the army, ready to give the order to stand down and finally let them go home to their families after six years of being in and out of war.

However, Liandrin raised a hand, and the fifteen thousand soldiers fell into an expectant silence.

"Citizens of the Realm. We have reached the end of a long and brutal night. We have won."

A cheer erupted, but Liandrin cut it off with a downward gesture.

"But victory has a cost. And sometimes, the greatest threat is not the enemy at the gates, but the traitor within our own ranks." She turned to me, eyes darkened with… disdain?

Towards who? Me? I blinked rapidly, unable to believe the best friend who had just smiled at me minutes ago could glare with such contempt.

“General Jeaine Cauthon, you are hereby charged with high treason against the Crown.”

WHAT?! My body went still in utmost shock.

I tried to speak, but the words died in my throat. I looked at Kaelene, desperate for him to laugh, to tell them all what a ridiculous performance this was. But he wouldn't meet my gaze.

“Liandrin?" I managed to choke out.

It was a pathetic, small sound compared to the thunder of the crowd. Every eye in the army was now fixed on me and it was not with the adoration of five minutes ago, but with a hungry suspicion.

I felt the trust of a thousand battles evaporating, replaced by the bitter taste of an impending execution.

My so-called best friend shouted for the crowd. “Do you know why General Jeaine always won?"

The silence was heavier after her question.

"Because she knew where our troops should be before our enemies attacked. For years we called it genius. Today we know the truth. Only someone feeding information to the Dragon Sovereignty could have predicted those battles."

"Liar," I gasped, but the sound was swallowed by the shock of the army.

Someone from the crowd shouted. “She must have allied herself with the Dragons!”

Liandrin gestured, and two officers stepped forward, dumping a crate of documents onto the dais. "Letters. Orders signed in her hand. Testimonies from officers she forced into silence."

It was a landslide of lies, so perfectly constructed that even I began to doubt my own memory of the events they described.

Liandrin continued, voice quivering with performative heartbreak. "I was blind. For years, I overlooked Jeaine’s… unprofessional and inappropriate attachment to my betrothed, Kaelene, out of respect for her service. I believed loyalty would overcome her jealousy. Instead, she sought to steal both my crown and my future husband."

The murmur from the crowd rose higher as confusion conflicted with the logic Liandrin was presenting.

As if to remind them, “She gave our positions to the enemy to prolong the war so she could keep our men and my fiancé under her thumb!" she screamed.

With that, the whispers exploded into rage. The adoration I had felt moments ago switched into spitting hatred.

“Whore!”

“Traitor!”

“Kill her!”

I looked at Kaelene and my heart sank further down. He was my mate, and Liandrin had promised to let us explore our mate bond. She had promised to renounce her betrothal to him as a gift for my unending devotion to her cause… so why?

What was this about me jeopardizing our victory?

Kaelene knows. He was there. He saw me bleed for every one of these men. He will tell them the truth.

"Kaelene," I choked out, reaching for him. "Tell them I didn't. You know I didn't.”

He didn't look at me. He drew his sword—my sword, the blade I had gifted him on the eve of the Battle of the Crags. The steel hissed as it left the scabbard.

“General Jeaine Cauthon," his voice was devoid of anything resembling the man I loved. He stepped toward me. "For crimes against the Realm and the betrayal of the Sovereign…"

He stopped inches from me. I searched his eyes, praying for a flicker of regret, maybe a secret signal that he wasn't really going to do this.

But there was nothing. Just the flat, gray emptiness of a man who had already decided who he would be in the new world.

"…I hereby carry out the Sovereign’s judgment."

The first strike was quick. It was a professional thrust of steel that pierced my chest.

I looked down and the world began to turn gray at the edges. I looked back up at the army—the men I had fed, the men I had carried, the men I had bled for. They were screaming for my blood without pity.

With hot blood gushing out of my mouth, "Kaelene. Look at me." I blurted, splurging streaks of blood on his face.

He refused to meet my gaze. "Do you believe I betrayed the werewolf faction? Did I really steal you from Liandrin?”

I felt his hand shaking over the brass of the sword. He gulped, still unable to meet my gaze.

“You never did know when to surrender, Jeaine. That was always your worst habit." He whispered only for my ears.

“Stop trying to manipulate your way out of this as you've always done!” Liandrin suddenly shouted at me.

She wasn't smiling anymore. When our eyes met, she made me see the secretly victorious curl of her lips which confirmed everything I refused to believe.

Liandrin had framed me and somehow, she got Kaelene in on it too.

I fell to my knees, the flowers being thrown by the children now landing in the growing pool of my own lifeblood. As my vision faded, I made a vow in blood and tears.

"If there is a hell… I will crawl my way back. If I ever get a second chance, I won't just stop you. I will dismantle everything you build. I will tear your pack apart, rip that throne from your hands, and feed your hearts to the beasts in the gutter. I swear it on my blood!"