Aria didn't go to her chambers.
She didn't cry.
She didn't even look back.
The palace corridors felt longer tonight. Colder. As if the walls themselves were whispering.
Engagement will be announced tomorrow.
Her steps were steady as she descended the western staircase — the one no noble used anymore. The torches here burned low. The air smelled of old stone and forgotten secrets.
Perfect.
Halfway down, the mark on her wrist pulsed.
Not faintly this time.
Pain shot up her arm — sharp, hot — like something waking up after years of silence.
Aria stopped.
Her breath didn't shake.
But her fingers did.
The symbol beneath her skin glowed silver-blue, thin lines forming a crest she had only seen once before.
In a forbidden book.
Locked.
Buried.
Hidden under royal seal.
"Impossible…" she whispered.
The wind from earlier returned — stronger now. The torches flickered violently.
And then—
A voice.
Not loud.
Not echoing.
Inside her.
He has chosen the throne.
So you will take the empire.
Aria's jaw tightened.
She pressed her palm against the cold wall to steady herself.
"I don't want an empire," she muttered.
Silence.
Then the mark burned again — harder.
A memory surfaced.
Her mother.
Blood on marble floors.
The night of the "assassination."
The way the royal council declared it an unfortunate accident.
The way Lord Meridan avoided her eyes during the funeral.
Her breathing slowed.
Too many things were aligning.
Too many lies.
Footsteps echoed above.
Guards.
Aria quickly pulled down her sleeve.
The glow vanished — but the heat remained.
She resumed walking.
Not toward her chambers.
But toward the restricted wing.
The Royal Archive.
If the crest was what she thought it was…
Then Kael didn't just choose power tonight.
He chose ignorance.
And ignorance was far more dangerous.
At the end of the corridor stood a sealed iron door.
No guard.
No torch.
Just a sigil carved into the metal.
The same shape that had burned into her skin.
Aria raised her trembling hand.
For a second, she hesitated.
Once she opened this door—
There would be no going back to being just the girl who stood beside a future king.
She placed her glowing wrist against the sigil.
The metal door unlocked with a low, ancient sound.
Inside, something shifted.
Something that had been waiting.
And somewhere in the palace above—
Kael suddenly felt cold.