Isabella's POV
I didn't hear them at first.
Not clearly. Just fragments, brushing the edges of my mind like a breeze slipping through a closed window. Soft. Cold. Familiar. When I returned to my chambers, everything felt the same… and nothing did. The morning sun was warm, but I felt chilled. I wrapped a robe tighter around me, moved to the mirror, and stared at myself.
Same face. Same eyes. Same crown.
But something behind them had changed.
The silence shifted.
"He lied."
The whisper coiled around my ear not from the room, but from within. I spun around, but no one was there. "They always lie." I gripped the edges of the vanity. My breath caught. "Get out," I whispered. "You don't belong here." "Don't we?" came the voice again, layered and female. Familiar in a way that made my blood ache.
"We wore that crown once too." I gasped. "No," I whispered. "I'm not you. I'm not her."
Silence.
And then
Laughter.
It echoed inside my chest like a bell being struck low and full of grief, not mockery. I rushed to the table, uncorked the decanter, poured water. My hands trembled. I couldn't still them. Couldn't stop the echo of the crypt from following me. I could still feel the stone beneath my fingers. Still see the crack in the coffin.
Still hear Dominic's voice when he said "She defied prophecy." Am I defying it now? I wondered. The whispers faded, but I didn't feel alone.
Not really.
Later that evening, I sat through court proceedings like a ghost draped in velvet. Ministers droned on about crops and taxes, but I couldn't hear them. All I could hear was that voice, mine, but not mine. And every time I looked at Dominic, I saw the shadow in his eyes. The one that hadn't been there before the tomb.
He knew something.
He always did.
When court ended, I stood. My voice rang out clear: "I want every record of the Queen of Ashes brought to my chambers by sundown. Sealed or not."
Gasps. Whispers. A heartbeat of stunned silence.
Dominic's jaw flexed. "That queen's name was erased by decree." "Then find me the ashes." I walked out. And behind me… I swear I heard someone whisper: "Finally."