Elara pov
Morning light crept through the chamber windows like an unwelcome guest, pale and cold.
I hadn't moved from my spot against the door, my body stiff and aching, my hands still pressed against the wood as if I could somehow reach through it to where Kael lay somewhere below.
The silence was worse than the screaming had been, at least the screaming meant he was alive, this silence could mean anything.
Footsteps approached and I tensed, the locks disengaged and a guard I didn't recognize stepped inside.
He looked at me with something like pity, which somehow made everything worse.
"King Eldric's coronation," he said, not quite meeting my eyes.
"You're to watch."
I didn't move, couldn't move.
"I'm not going."
"You don't have a choice," he said, then gestured to two more
