The Billionaire’s Gilded Debt

Chapter 16

I opened the book— it was a holy relic, the gold letters warming my fingers. I perched on the edge of the chair, tucking my feet under the table, and flipped to the first page.

The Princess Knight—chapter 1

The kingdom of Stonehaven was not hewn from soft stone or shifting sand. It was a stronghold of deep-earth iron and polished steel, a fortified titan rising from the craggy cliffs like a crown of metal. The Five Lands knew it as the strongest of all, where the walls were thick enough to muffle the roar of a thousand tempests and the gates were forged in dragon-fire.

But within those iron-bound walls beat a warm heart.

Princess Elena, the firstborn, stood poised on the high balcony overlooking the training grounds. She was Stonehaven’s jewel —graceful, exquisite, and reared with the quiet virtue of a queen in waiting. Her hair flowed like spun gold, and her eyes sparkled with the clarity of the mountain lakes, but those who looked closely could see a glimmer of the iron that formed her home.

Leaning dangerously over the railing beside her was her younger sister Tiara, last born of the queen, Tiara was the Stonehaven’s pulse—full of laughter and a unbridled energy that kept even the most stern palace guards on their toes. And between them was Zara, the queen, whose serene wisdom anchored Elena’s budding sense of duty and tethered Tiara’s wild mischief.

"Look!” Cried Tiara as she pointed down to the training grounds. "Father is winning!"

In the middle of their makeshift arena stood King Bruce, a man-mountain whose guffaw echoed as loudly as his broadsword clanging against his opponent’s shield.

Not only a king, but a father who strode through the castle’s corridors without his crown, who knelt to tuck his daughters beneath their furs with tales of ancient heroes, and who loved his wife, Queen Zara, with a devotion that made the entire kingdom seem safe.

Queen Zara, watching from the cool shadow of the stone archway, her lips curled into a contented smile. She was the soul of the fortress; the one who turned a bastion of ice and stone into a home.

The sun in those days had been far more generous in stretching its rays across the metal spires of the city.

I set down the book for an instant and let out a shuddering breath. A happy family. A protective father. A safe kingdom. I traced my fingers over the page, yearning to be pulled into it and to live within that silver morning, far from the shadows of Aethelgard.

The training session came to an end when King Bruce lifted Tiara onto his shoulder, and her shrill laughter bounced off the iron-reinforced walls of the courtyard. Elena watched from above with a full heart.

This was how life was in Stonehaven—strength tempered by love.

Queen Zara descended toward them, her silk robes gliding over stone like water. She reached up to wipe a smudge of dirt from her husband’s cheek, and for that moment they looked not like the rulers of the most powerful kingdom in the world but like two people who had found their entire universe in one another.

“The banquet is prepared, Bruce,” she said, her voice soft and musical. “The delegates from the Southern Isles have arrived.”

The moment passed as Bruce turned back to his wife with a serious mask befitting a king.

"And the Sorcerer? Has Lord Malakor sent word?"

The Equerry stepped forward from the shadows of the archway, his hand resting briefly on his chest in a crisp salute. 'The carriage was sighted at the pass, Sire,' he murmured.

Zara’s hand unconsciously clenching her husband's. A shadow of fear crossed the lovely face of the Queen. "He comes to present a gift for Elena's eighteenth birth-day."

Elena felt a sudden tingle at the back of her neck at the mention of Malakor. A man of darkness, and ancient, oppressive magic—the one thing in all the world that did not kneel to Stonehaven's iron. But the feeling was short-lived, for Zara had spotted her and beckoned.

"Come here, Elena! Tiara!" cried the Queen. "This is a night for joy—for celebrating all we have wrought! This is a night when Stonehaven shines."

The family filed into the Great Hall, a cavernous room with its own weather: a blue sky dotted with white clouds and painted with constellations of the Northern sky. The long tables were groaning under great platters of roasted meats, honeyed bread, and wine sparkling like rubies.

Elena sat at her father's right hand. She felt the warmth from the hearths in their great stone mouths, and from their fire-keepers beside her own family. She watched Tiara, attempting to smuggle an entire cake to the hunting hounds; Zara engaging in deep philosophical discussions with some court scholars. It was a perfect moment.

King Bruce raised his golden goblet high above his head, silencing his guests as they stretched out their various wild cheers.

"To Stonehaven! May its walls never fall, and may its heart never grow cold!"

"To Stonehaven!" they bellowed in reply.

Elena's attention wandered away from the feast and revelry around her as she caught sight of a dark figure standing at the back of the hall.

He raised a single finger toward Elena; a silent warning that this fragile peace enjoyed by her kingdom was no more substantial than glass.

But beneath the roof and within the warmth of the hall, surrounded by the merry voices of her sisters, The glow of the painted constellations vanished as a heavy thud echoed from the library shelves. The golden motes that danced in the light seemed to freeze. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of old parchment and the judgment of the grandfather clock in the corner.

We had been hidden away for more than an hour already. "Oh stars!" said Daisy suddenly, her eyes flying to the clock. "Lina will have my head if those table linens are not pressed to perfection; we must go this instant!"