Kelilah’s POV
Days had slipped through my fingers, and my vow to locate Loveth remained a haunting failure. With each passing sunrise, the reality of my predicament pressed down on me: only a few weeks remained before the kingdom of Bazil would come to claim their bride. And Loveth was still missing. The gnawing fear that I’d be forced into the marriage as her replacement settled heavily on me.
Now I understood why I was always the “spare.”
The weight of this arranged marriage bore down on me like a boulder, unrelenting and cold. I needed an escape plan—something, anything, to release me from this fate. Tyra came to mind. She’d always been my fiercest ally, and if anyone could help me devise a way out, it would be her.
I met her that evening, spilling my thoughts as she listened. But b
