THE FORGOTTEN SON-IN-LAW

Chapter Six

Reports reached Adrian that Kael’s forces were infiltrating the city under the guise of traders and mercenaries. The Harlow estate was surrounded by unseen eyes, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Adrian knew the war he had tried to avoid was coming. The question was whether the Harlows—and Selene—were ready to survive it.

The city’s nobles whispered of strange movements in the night—new faces in the taverns, foreign banners glimpsed on rooftops. Selene noticed the unease in her father’s face, though he tried to hide it. Adrian, however, moved with greater vigilance, posting loyal guards and secretly training them in tactics long forgotten by the city’s elite.

Selene watched him command with natural authority. Each passing day chipped away at her resistance, though Eleanor’s venomous whispers lingered in her ears.

Julian grew impatient. Kael demanded results, and failure meant death. Standing in the warlord’s dimly lit chamber, Julian fell to his knees.

“I have given you everything—information, names, routes. Why have you not yet crushed him?”

Kael’s eyes gleamed like steel. “Because I want him to rise first. Only when he stands tall will breaking him taste sweeter. Patience, Julian. Or perhaps I should test your loyalty instead?”

Julian swallowed hard, realizing he had allied with a predator.

While patrolling the Harlow estate, Adrian stumbled upon a sealed chamber beneath the west wing. Dust-covered and forgotten, it contained scrolls bearing the insignia of his fallen house.

He knelt before them, swearing silently. The past had found him again. What secrets lay within these scrolls could change the course of the war.

Late one night, Selene approached Adrian by the koi pond where so many of their moments had unfolded. Her eyes shimmered in the moonlight.

“I don’t know why I feel this way,” she whispered. “You terrify me… yet I feel safer with you than with anyone else.”

Adrian’s hand trembled as it brushed hers. “Then let me be your shield. Not because of your family. Because of you.”

Their lips met, sealing a bond that neither enemy nor bloodline could easily sever.

Eleanor, consumed by jealousy, overheard their exchange. Her fury turned to malice. That very night, she sent a secret letter to Julian, offering him information in exchange for power when Adrian fell.

Julian’s grin widened. “Perfect. The blade that strikes deepest always comes from within.”

The attack came at dawn. Kael’s mercenaries descended upon the Harlow estate with ruthless precision. Arrows rained, fire spread across the gardens, and steel clashed with desperate defenders.

Adrian led the charge, his movements a blur of deadly efficiency. Selene stood at the balcony, heart pounding, watching him defy death again and again.

But then she saw Eleanor slip away in the chaos, a shadow vanishing toward the enemy’s camp.

In the heat of battle, Victor Harlow was struck by a poisoned blade. Adrian carried him back inside, blood soaking his shirt. Selene sobbed as healers rushed forward.

“Stay with me, Father!” she cried.

Victor’s weakening hand clutched Adrian’s arm. “Protect them… all of them… you are the heir this house never knew it needed.”

Then he lost consciousness.

As the mercenaries withdrew, leaving only destruction behind, Kael himself appeared at the gates. His towering frame and crimson armor struck fear into every soul present.

He pointed his sword at Adrian. “Son of the forgotten bloodline. You survived today. But know this—I will not rest until your name is ashes.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “Then you will never rest.”

The war had only just begun.

The siege left the city shaken. Markets stood empty, doors bolted shut, and rumors spread like wildfire. Some whispered that Adrian was cursed, others that he was their only hope.

Selene walked among the people, seeing fear in their eyes. But when she spoke of Adrian’s courage, hope flickered. She realized his fight was no longer just for her family—it was for them all.

The city council convened in secret. Half argued for surrender to Kael, believing resistance futile. The other half, led by a grizzled war veteran, demanded they rally behind Adrian.

When Adrian entered the chamber, the arguments ceased. His quiet authority commanded the room. “If you surrender,” he said, “Kael will not spare you. Stand with me, and I will bleed before I let him take your homes.”

Julian’s influence spread within the council through bribes and promises. Eleanor fed him information about Adrian’s strategies, unaware—or uncaring—that she was betraying her family’s last defense.

“Keep watching him,” Julian ordered. “The moment he stumbles, I’ll be there to end him.”

Selene surprised everyone when she took command of relief efforts for the wounded. Her compassion and resilience inspired those around her. Adrian saw in her not just a woman of beauty, but of unyielding spirit.

“You are more powerful than you know,” he told her one night. “It’s not my sword alone that keeps them fighting—it’s your heart.”

Kael’s forces swelled, mercenaries and shadow-cloaked warriors gathering in terrifying numbers. His lieutenants whispered of forbidden rituals that would unleash horrors unseen in generations.

“Let the city quake,” Kael said, his voice like thunder. “When I arrive, it will kneel.”

Adrian finally deciphered the ancient scrolls he found beneath the Harlow estate. They spoke of an oath sworn by his ancestors—to guard a sacred relic that could turn the tide of war. The relic’s location, however, had been lost for centuries.

He realized Kael’s obsession wasn’t merely conquest—it was to seize this relic and claim its power.

During a night raid, Adrian captured a cloaked figure slipping through the city’s defenses. To his shock, the spy was Eleanor. Her betrayal was laid bare before Selene and the council.

Selene’s heart shattered. “My own sister… why?”

Eleanor sneered. “Because I refuse to live in your shadow while you fawn over him.”

Adrian, though betrayed, spared her life. “Pray you find redemption, Eleanor. For the path you’ve chosen leads only to ruin.”