The last of the enemy assassins, warriors, and sorcerers had been dealt with.

  Not through battle.

  Not through carnage.

  But through inevitability.

  Selene remained untouched, her Court of Balance standing stronger than before, her enemies dwindling with every passing day.

  And now, the remaining Dominion Lords knew it.

  They had lost their chance.

  Their desperation had failed them.

  And now—

  There was nothing left but the final act.

  ---

  Selene sat in the great hall of the Verdant Nexus, golden eyes scanning the gathered Fae Lords and vassals.

  They were all waiting.

  They had felt the shift.

  They knew the war was over.

  Only the enemy Lords refused to acknowledge it.

  Foxes grinned from his place near the throne.

  “Well, it looks like they’re finally ready to make their last move.”

  Strategy nodded, gaze cool.

  “They are out of options.”

  “They know it,” Sovereignty murmured. “But they cannot accept it.”

  Selene leaned forward, resting her chin lightly on her hand.

  “They will march.”

  She could see it already.

  Not a strategic invasion.

  Not a carefully planned attack.

  Just desperate men throwing everything they had left at her doorstep.

  Because they had to.

  Because they knew if they did not win here, they would never win at all.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Selene exhaled softly.

  “I will not give them the satisfaction of a battle.”

  The gathered Fae Lords stilled.

  Even Blackwell’s expression flickered with the faintest trace of surprise.

  Strategy tilted his head slightly.

  “You intend to let them reach our walls?”

  Selene smiled.

  “I intend to let them see what they never understood.”

  ---

  The Dominion Lords gathered their armies.

  The shattered remnants of the Verdant Accord, the embers of the Iron Pact, the fractured lines of the Gilded Chain—

  Every force still willing to fight marched toward the Verdant Nexus.

  Brannor was gone.

  Kestrel was forgotten.

  And every Dominion that had stood against Selene had already begun to collapse.

  But they refused to kneel.

  Not yet.

  Because if they kneeled, if they accepted what was happening—

  Then they would have to admit that Selene had been right all along.

  That this war had never been theirs to win.

  ---

  The moment they crossed into Selene’s territory, the change became clear.

  The land was not barren.

  It was not broken by battle.

  It was alive.

  The very soil seemed to hum with energy, the air charged with something unseen.

  It did not feel like an enemy’s domain.

  It felt like something greater.

  Something beyond what they had ever known.

  And that was when the first among them began to hesitate.

  “This isn’t right,” one soldier murmured.

  His commander ignored him.

  Because to acknowledge the feeling would be to acknowledge that they had already lost.

  ---

  The first wave of scouts returned.

  Their faces were pale, their eyes wide.

  “There’s… no one waiting for us,” one stammered.

  The Lords frowned.

  “What?”

  The scout swallowed.

  “No army. No archers. No defenses.”

  He exhaled.

  “The gates are open.”

  ---

  The war council erupted.

  “They’re toying with us,” Lord Maelrik snarled.

  “It’s a trap,” Lady Revera insisted.

  Lord Danton rubbed his temples.

  “Or maybe it isn’t.”

  The room fell silent.

  And the truth settled over them like a shadow.

  Selene didn’t need a trap.

  She didn’t need a battle.

  Because she already knew they had no fight left to give.

  They had marched here, expecting resistance.

  Expecting to face the final war.

  And instead—

  They were met with nothing at all.

  They were no longer an army.

  They were pilgrims at the doorstep of something they did not understand.

  And that was the moment that fear turned to horror.

  Because war was supposed to be simple.

  There was supposed to be an enemy to fight.

  But Selene had taken even that from them.

  She had not met them with steel.

  She had met them with certainty.

  And it was far more terrifying than any weapon.

  ---

  At the gates of the Verdant Nexus, Selene stood waiting.

  Not with her army.

  Not with her vassals.

  Just herself.

  Because that was all that was needed now.

  She watched as the final Lords of the war stood at the entrance to her empire.

  They had spent everything to get here.

  And now, they stood before her.

  Defeated.

  Not by swords or fire.

  But by the weight of what she had built.

  Selene’s golden gaze swept across them.

  And then she spoke.

  “Tell me,” she said softly,

  “What was it all for?”

  Her voice was gentle.

  Not mocking.

  Not cruel.

  Just curious.

  Because she genuinely wanted to know.

  Had they ever believed they would win?

  Had they truly thought that they could resist the inevitable?

  One by one, the Lords looked away.

  They had no answer.

  Because in the end—

  They had never been fighting for victory.

  They had been fighting to delay the truth.

  And now, standing here, facing her, they had nothing left to fight for.

  The last of them knelt.

  Not in submission.

  Not in surrender.

  But because they finally understood.

  And that was when the war truly ended.

  Not with destruction.

  Not with bloodshed.

  But with the acceptance of the only truth that mattered.

  Selene had already won.