VALERIE.
The palace had never felt more alive, and yet I had never felt more hunted.
Not by blades or beasts, by truth.
Even with Rose alive and healing, a shadow clung to me—an omen I couldn’t shake. The realm was shifting. My child curled low in my belly, responding to the changes. They sensed it, too: the war to come, the prophecy unfurling faster than we could grasp. I stood in the central hall where the mural of the Three Eras glowed under golden torches. A thousand years of history stared down at me, and all I could feel was a pulse beneath the stone. Something ancient had awakened.
"He won’t stop," I said, as Dorian stepped beside me. His jaw was tight, eyes tired. “He doesn’t need to. We’re going to stop him first.” I looked at him. “Even if it costs more than we’ve already pai
