Chapter 10
Elara’s POV
The palace walls gleamed like molten gold in the late afternoon light, but for Elara, they were little more than prison bars dressed in splendor. She had not stopped pacing since the guards left her chamber. Every creak of her boots against the marble floors echoed with her rising frustration.
She had been here only two days, yet the air already felt too heavy, too suffocating. The vast chamber, with its velvet drapes and ornate carvings, was far from comforting. No—it was a gilded cage.
She went to the tall window, pushing it open, letting the evening wind sting her cheeks. Beyond the walls lay the capital—buzzing, free, alive. She belonged out there, among her herbs, her work, her people. Not locked away under some excuse of "protection."
Her hand instinctivel
