The air cracked with unspoken tension as Sophia crossed the courtyard. Heads turned. Conversations halted. Even the music dipped into silence.
She walked directly between them—neither greeting nor pausing—before turning to face the entire assembly.
“I’ve tolerated my name being thrown between two powerful men long enough,” she said, voice carrying effortlessly across the courtyard. “Tonight, I speak for myself.”
Both Darius and Ethan stiffened.
She met Darius’s eyes. “You do not prove love by chaining me to fear and pageantry.”
Then she turned to Ethan. “And you do not fight for me by using the realm as your battlefield.”
Gasps rippled across the guests.
“I am not a pawn in your war. I am not a prize to be won,” Sophia said, her voice like steel beneath silk. “From this moment on, I
