CHAPTER FORTY SIX
A sharp click of heels echoes through the silent hall.
Former Queen Ravenna rises from her seat, chin lifted like a blade.
“My king,” she says, voice smooth and venomous, “a crime of this magnitude demands the harshest punishment. She should be executed. Mercy would dishonor the crown.”
A cold wave of terror crashes through me.
My execution?
My death?
For something I didn’t even do?
My entire body trembles. My fingers dig into the floor. For a moment, I forget how to breathe.
Adrian’s jaw tightens. Something shifts in his eyes, not softness, not pity… but restraint. A man standing on the edge of a cliff.
He looks at me one last time.
A glance that feels like the closing of a door.
A goodbye without words.
Then he turns his back to me and walks toward the thro
