The study was lit only by the golden glow of the chandelier above and the scattered pools of lamplight across the desk. Papers were neatly arranged, maps pinned with markers, and a stack of reports awaited Kiara’s review. She sat straight-backed, her pen gliding across parchment with an elegance that disguised the exhaustion in her bones. Every command she gave to the attendants nearby was calm, precise; there was no hesitation, no falter.
To anyone else, she was the perfect queen: poised, relentless, managing matters of state and family with unshakable accuracy. No one could have guessed that beneath the steady grace of her words, a storm weighed on her heart.
But King Pialo saw what no courtier, no advisor, no servant could see. Her movements were fluid, her presence radiant, but there
