Natalie's POV
I could not breathe. The throne room was too hot and too bright and the weight of Marcellus's words was crushing me from the inside out. My chest felt tight. My hands were shaking. I wanted to run but there was nowhere to go. Guards at every door. Chains on the two people who had risked everything to protect me.
"You are lying," I said.
My voice came out stronger than I felt. "The prophecy is just a story. Something people made up to explain things they did not understand."
"Is it?" Marcellus gestured to the walls around us and for the first time, I really looked at them. Ancient murals covered every surface. Painted in faded colors that had probably been vibrant once. They depicted wolves and crowned figures and blue light that looked exactly like the power I carried in
