Sasha’s Pov
The scroll trembled in my hands.
Not from the wind, there was none. The air inside the temple was still as stone, ancient and sacred, pressed thick with silence. No breath, no breeze. Only the hum of memory in the walls and the words inked onto parchment that pulsed like they were alive.
The script burned into me:
“You were not born to rule.
You were born to seal.”
It wasn’t a prophecy.
It was a sentence.
The kind that didn’t just demand sacrifice, but defined it.
Even the flickering torches lining the chamber walls seemed to dim, as if they, too, were holding their breath. Around me rose murals of queens long dead, warrior-throned women crowned in flame, their battles etched in molten gold. Weapons raised. Thrones shattered. Fire always at the center.
Alex stood behi
