Ariana's POV
The doors to the central hall were taller than I remembered.
I had walked through them a hundred times before I ever left for Silvercrest, back when they were simply the doors to a room where my father conducted business I did not yet understand. Standing before them now, dressed in royal silver instead of the plain fabric I had worn for a year, they felt like the entrance to something I had never actually faced.
My mother adjusted the fall of my sleeve one final time, her fingers steady despite the tension I could feel radiating from her. "You look every bit the princess you are," she said quietly.
"I don't feel like her," I admitted.
"You will," she said. "The moment matters less than you think. What matters is what comes after."
My father said nothing, his attention f
