Chapter 27: The Heir’s Trial
****Isabelle’s POV****
They came for me at midnight.
Not with fanfare or screaming bullets, but with silence—cold, clinical, and absolute.
I was asleep in my father’s old room, wrapped in worn sheets that smelled of cedar and ghosts. The storm had passed hours earlier, and the only sound in the estate was the ticking of a grandfather clock echoing in the hallway. I barely stirred when the door creaked open. But I knew instantly—this wasn’t Mara, or one of the loyal guards.
This was something else.
I reached for the knife beneath my pillow a second too late.
A dart bit into my neck. Pain bloomed. The world tilted.
And then everything went dark.
---
I woke to the smell of disinfectant and metal.
White light flooded my vision. My arms were bound behind
