CHAP 7
SS2 -
PART 5 — The First Choice
At dawn, the nobles gathered again.
This time not to witness a revelation.
But a decision.
Mara stood at the top of the marble stairs, still wrapped in the royal cloak.
Below her, the entire court waited.
The king stepped aside.
And for the first time, he did not stand between her and the world.
Only beside it.
“You will choose,” he said.
Mara blinked.
“I don’t know how to rule a kingdom.”
“Then don’t rule it,” he replied. “Decide whether you want to learn.”
A murmur spread through the hall.
Mara’s hands trembled.
She thought of the kitchens.
Of cold floors.
Of names she was never allowed to speak.
Of Celeste’s voice.
Of fire.
Of water.
Of something inside her that was no longer sleeping.
She took a breath.
Then another.
And stepped forward.
Not as a servant.
Not yet as a queen.
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But as something the kingdom had never prepared for:
A beginning.
