CHAP 3
SS2: PART 1 — The Weight of the Crown
The silence in the ballroom did not break even when Celeste was dragged out.
It only deepened.
Mara stood still beneath the royal cloak, its weight heavier than any armor she had ever seen. Not because of its fabric—but because of what it meant.
Every eye in the room was now on her.
Not as a servant.
Not as someone invisible.
But as something they had failed to see for years.
She took a slow step back.
“I don’t understand this,” she whispered.
The king rose from his kneel, but he did not touch her again. He seemed afraid that even movement might shatter what fragile trust remained.
“You don’t have to understand it yet,” he said softly. “You only have to exist. The rest… we will rebuild around you.”
Mara’s breath hitched.
Rebuild.
As if her life had been something destroyed in silence.
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the cloak.
“I don’t know how to be… anything else,” she admitted.
A noblewoman in the front row lowered her gaze in shame.
A guard shifted uncomfortably.
The king nodded once, as if accepting a truth he had no right to question.
“Then no one will force you to be,” he said. “Not anymore.”
But Mara’s eyes were not on him.
May you like
They were on the doors Celeste had been taken through.
Because even in truth, something inside her still trembled at what had just been revealed.
