Althea Aury Valemont.
The Sixth Princess.
The Saint of the Kingdom.
The Darling of the Capital.
The Ruby of the Temple.
Those were the names sung in the streets, the titles whispered in reverence by devotees who bowed to her shadow. To the kingdom, she was a miracle incarnate, the girl blessed by the gods, the proof of divine favor walking among humans. But behind those names, behind the immaculate smile she wore, Althea was something else entirely.
She was the daughter of a disgraced elf, a woman cast out by the very palace and temple that now paraded Althea as their living saint. Her smile, the same one etched into tapestries and portraits, had been honed since childhood, sharpened not from joy but from necessity.
She had been told again and again.
'Smile. Smile at those who scorn you. Smile for those who watch you, waiting for you to stumble. Smile, because they want to see you shine while they keep you in a cage.'
Beneath that sweetness lay pain. And rage.
