(Ashina POV)
The moon cell chains burned my wrists, but my father’s touch still warmed my cheek like a promise nobody else could understand.
He had come.
He called me his daughter.
He had not freed me yet, but I knew better than to mistake delay for abandonment.
My father loved tests more than rescue.
He believed hunger made loyalty sharper, and pain taught daughters which parts of their hearts were still too soft.
Daciana thought she had won by refusing a crown and hiding among servants like humility could protect her from blood.
She did not understand that servant halls were where my family had always planted its deepest roots.
Queens watched gates.
Alphas watched borders.
But servants watched everything.
That was why my mother had opened Rudina’s palace from inside.
That wa
