🔥 The siege tightens. The earth stirs. And Hawksmere’s fate hangs by a single trembling thread…

In this devastatingly tense chapter of The Scandalous Hours, Lady Alianor stands at the edge of impossible choices as dawn rises pale and merciless over Hawksmere. Hunger gnaws at the people. Fear corrodes their resolve. And on a rough-hewn platform outside the walls, Tom and Bess kneel with death at their backs.

Sir Jocelyn demands surrender.
The people plead for salvation.
And beneath the keep, in the caverns where men fear to tread, something ancient wakes… and listens. 💀✨

As Alianor battles despair and duty, her allies fracture under pressure. Eamon warns that Jocelyn cannot be trusted. Father Clement fears for every soul inside the walls. And the people—starving, terrified, aching for hope—teeter on the brink of rebellion or collapse.

But when the mountain gives its first warning pulse…
When the green heartbeat thrums through Hawksmere like a whisper of the divine—or the damned…
Alianor understands a truth no crown ever prepared her for:

To save her people, she may have to unleash a power not meant for mortal hands.

🔥 In this chapter, expect:
– A life-or-death ultimatum before all of Hawksmere
– Eamon and Alianor’s bond forged under crushing pressure
– The people turning toward—or against—their Lady
– The first true awakening of the Bitter Spring’s ancient wrath
– A plan so dangerous it blurs the line between miracle and sacrilege

🌘 This is the hour when hope becomes a weapon…
and the land decides whether it will rise for Hawksmere—or bury it.