The healing chamber smelled of blood and burned stone. Two dead Sky Dungeon scouts still lay in the corner where guards had dragged them.

Their bodies were black and twisted, with too many joints and wings that looked like torn leather. One had a mouth full of needle teeth. The other had a hole in its chest where Catherine's spear had gone through.

Catherine sat on the edge of a stone bench while a servant wrapped her shoulder. The wound burned, but she ignored it. Flora stood three feet away, arms crossed, staring at the blood on her mother's shirt.

"You took that hit for me," Flora said. Her voice was flat. "I had my sword up. I could have blocked it."

Catherine looked up. "You froze. The fracture on your arm lit up like a beacon. The thing went straight for you."

Flora stepped closer. "And you jumped in front of it. Because I'm your daughter, or because I'm one of Aiden's women now and you still think you can control what happens to me?"

Catherine's jaw tightened. The servant finished the bandage and left without a word. They were alone.

"I pushed you into this," Catherine said. "I told you the harem would give us power. Status. Safety. I made you walk into Aiden's bed and take the fracture because I wanted the title of mother to a favored consort. Look where it got us."

Flora laughed once, short and bitter. "You regret it now? After the council meeting where you smiled while Aiden assigned me to scout the eastern fracture line tomorrow? Alone?"

"I didn't smile." Catherine stood up. Pain flared in her shoulder.

"I nodded because saying no would have gotten both of us killed. But yes, I regret it. The monsters are getting worse. They smell the fractures. They come for us first. I see that now. I should have kept you out of this."

Flora's eyes were wet. She didn't wipe the tears. "Then why didn't you? You wanted the prestige. You wanted Aiden to look at you and see a woman who delivered her own daughter to him wrapped in loyalty.

Now the Sky Dungeon is cracking open above us and you're sorry?"

Catherine reached out and grabbed Flora's wrist.

"I'm sorry enough to stop pretending. I won't let you take that scouting run tomorrow. I'll tell Aiden the wound on my shoulder is worse than it is and that you need to stay here to guard me. It's a lie, but it's one I can live with."

Flora pulled her arm free. "And then what? Aiden will just pick someone else. Luna. Or one of the newer girls.

The monsters don't care who they kill. They want the fractures. They want the power leaking out of us."

"I know," Catherine said. "But not you. Not tomorrow."

They stood there, breathing hard. Neither hugged the other. The air between them stayed sharp.

Down the corridor in the smaller side room, Sabrina had Luna pinned against the wall—not in anger, but to keep her still while she cleaned the cut across Luna's ribs.

The girl's shirt was off. The fracture mark on her collarbone glowed faint blue, pulsing every few seconds.

"You're shaking," Sabrina said. She kept her voice low. Her hands were steady, but her mouth was a thin line.

"I'm fine," Luna said. "It's just a scratch."

Sabrina dipped the cloth in the basin again. "That scout came through the window straight at you. It ignored everyone else until your fracture lit up. I saw it. I saw how fast it moved."

Luna looked at her mother's face. Sabrina's usual cold mask had cracked. There was something raw underneath.

"You were scared," Luna said. It wasn't a question.

Sabrina didn't answer right away. She pressed the cloth harder than necessary. Luna winced.

"I don't get scared," Sabrina finally said. "Not in front of Aiden. Not in front of the nobles. But when that thing went for you I felt it. Real fear. The kind that makes your stomach drop.

I've killed men for less than what those monsters want to do to you. And I realized I would burn this whole city down if it kept you alive."

Luna stared. "You've never said anything like that."

"Because saying it makes me weak," Sabrina snapped. Then her shoulders dropped. "But it's true. I pushed you into the harem same as Catherine pushed Flora. I told you power came with the fracture.

I told you to smile and spread your legs and take what Aiden gave. Now I see the cost. The Sky Dungeon isn't some border problem anymore. It's coming for us. For the marked ones. For my daughter."

Luna put her hand over Sabrina's. "Then stop pushing. Help me find a way out. Or at least a way to fight that isn't just obeying Aiden until we drop."

Sabrina looked at the door, then back at Luna. "I can't say that out loud yet. Not where anyone can hear.

But I'm listening now. If the next attack is bigger, we don't stand in front like loyal dogs. We survive first."

In the small chapel attached to the healing wing, Bela and Calipso stood in front of the cracked altar. The room had no windows. Torches flickered.

Bela rubbed her temples. "The fractures reacted again. Mine burned the whole time the monsters were inside the walls. It felt like the gods were screaming through my skin."

Calipso folded her arms. "Or the Sky Dungeon is screaming back. Those things aren't natural. They come from above the clouds, where the old texts say the first gods were cast out. And every time one of us bleeds near them, the fractures glow brighter.

The clergy in the cathedral district are already whispering. They say Aiden's power is cursed. That he stole it and now the sky is answering."

Bela shook her head. "Aiden is still the emperor. The fractures are still proof of divine favor. Or they were."

Calipso smiled, thin and sharp. "Were. Past tense. That's the opportunity. If the monsters keep coming, the church can step in. Declare the fractures corrupted. Offer to 'purify' the harem women.

Take control of the defense ourselves. The nobles are already scared. They'll back whoever promises safety."

Bela looked uneasy. "You sound like you want the chaos."

"I want the church to survive it," Calipso said. "And if that means letting a few monsters thin out Aiden's inner circle first, so be it."

Isolde slipped into the chapel last. She moved quietly, the way she always did. She had changed out of her blood-stained dress into a plain robe.

She went to Catherine and Flora first. "I saw what you did out there, Catherine. Taking the hit. Brave. Stupid, but brave." She glanced at Flora. "Your daughter doesn't have to keep paying for your ambition.

There are people in the lower districts who remember what the empire was before the fractures. Before Aiden. They have safe houses. Routes out of the city that the monsters haven't found yet."

Flora's head came up fast. Catherine put a hand on her shoulder to keep her quiet.

Isolde kept talking, soft. "Think about it. Loyalty is killing you both. One small piece of information withheld at the right time could buy you breathing room."

She left them with that and moved to Sabrina and Luna. "Your mother showed her real face tonight, Luna. Fear. Good.

Use it. Aiden's grip is slipping. The next time the sky cracks open, don't be standing in the front line waiting to die for him."

Sabrina glared but didn't argue. Luna nodded once.

In the chapel Isolde told Bela and Calipso, "The clergy wants power. The nobles want safety.

The harem wants their daughters alive. All of you can have those things if you stop pretending Aiden's fractures are holy. The monsters are the proof they aren't."

She didn't stay long. She never did.

An hour later Aiden summoned the senior women to the war room. He stood at the head of the table, fracture marks visible on his neck and hands. They looked darker than yesterday.

"Report," he said.

Catherine spoke first. She kept her voice steady. "The eastern fracture line needs scouting at dawn. Flora is the fastest rider. But my shoulder wound is deeper than it looks.

I need her here to guard the inner gate while I recover. Send someone else east."

Aiden studied her. "You're lying."

Catherine met his eyes. "I'm prioritizing my daughter's safety the same way you prioritize the empire. Send Luna instead. She's rested."

Sabrina didn't blink. She had heard the plan already.

Aiden's jaw worked. He didn't push. Not yet. "Fine. Luna takes the east. Flora stays. But if either of you holds back information again, I will know."

He dismissed them.

Catherine walked out last. In the hallway she stopped and leaned against the wall. Flora waited for her.

"You did it," Flora said quietly. "You lied to him. For me."

Catherine nodded once. "First time. Won't be the last if the monsters keep coming."

Outside, the sky above the city had turned the wrong color—greenish black, like a bruise. Another fracture line had opened somewhere far above the clouds. No one could see it yet, but everyone could feel it. The air tasted of ozone and rot.

The Sky Dungeon was answering. And it wasn't done.