Chapter 9
The king still refused to let me leave the palace.
He held me close, as if it were for
my own good.
“Selene, your hands are ruined. How will you survive outside the palace? I want to keep you close, to protect you… to make things right.”
How absurd. Now that I was broken beyond repair, he wanted to make amends?
He hadn’t given up on my hands. After the palace healers declared there was nothing more they could do, he summoned a string of rogue physicians from
across the realm.
Each time, I watched him grow more desperate–rage turning slowly to resignation.
Eventually, he stopped visiting the Moonlight Tower altogether.
The borders were in chaos, the court fractured. His strength was consumed by rebellion after rebellion.
When he finally reappeared, his face was drawn with fatigue–yet his eyes were shining with something close to hope.
Selene, come quickly,” he said, helping me out of bed,
He guided me into the courtyard.
There, Lyra was thrown to the ground by palace guards–filthy, bloodied, disheveled beyond recognition.
The king pointed his sword at her. “Look. I’ve brought you the viper who poisoned everything. It was her lies that made me keep Evelyne, that made me harm you. Whatever you want to do with her… it’s your call‘
Lyra’s mouth was gagged, her eyes swollen with tears as she frantically shook her head.
But inside, I felt nothing. Just a still, barren calm.
No matter how much Lyra wept, Daisy was never coming back.
When I gave no response, the king raised his blade and severed Lyra’s arms in one clean stroke.
Blood soaked the courtyard tiles.
She writhed and whimpered like a wounded animal.
I frowned.
It was all… vile.
“Call the healers. Stop the bleeding,” the king barked, “Once this woman regains consciousness, send her to the Inquisition. Whatever punishment Daisy once suffered, she’ll endure every last bit of it.”
After the guards drapped Lyra away, the king turned to embrace me again.
“Have I made things right?” he asked.
“I shut down the Crimson Pavilion. I executed everyone who laurt you. If your heart is still unsettled, just say the word–I’ll make them pay.
I swallowed the metallic tang rising in my throat and stared at him.
There was still one person who hurt me
And he was standing right in front of ine.
Three days later, Lord Cedric pare bearing news.
“Your Majesty, a folk physician requests an audience. He claims to have a cure for the High Priestess’s hands.”
The king’s eyes lit up. “Bring him in! At once!TM
Moments later, the man entered with a small vial of elixir.
glance was all I needed to know what it was,
A deadly tonic–capable of granting a brief recovery by forcefully burning through the body’s reserves.
But whoever took it would be dead within a fortnight.
Chapter 0
“Outrageous!”
The king was livid. “You dare bring poison to my beloved? What are you plotting? Guards–beat him to death!”
But Lord Cedric, who had served the court for decades, fell to his knees.
“Your Majesty! I beg you to reconsider!”
The king crushed the teacup in his hand. His face darkened.
“This medicine is dangerous, yes–but the war is slipping beyond our grasp. If we delay any longer, we won’t even h
have two weeks left. Not even days
fall. The people—at
But he said nothing
Then, slowly, he tumed to me.
Selene…” There was guilt in his eyes. “This is for the good of the kingdom. The war must not be lost. As king, I cannot let our nation fall. least the people–are innocent.”
He didn’t say “we”
He said “the people.”
He had let go of even that last thread of dignity–just to ask me to die.
How laughable.
I started laughing through my tears, then reached out and took the elixir from his hand.
The moment I swallowed it, I collapsed.
Blood gushed from my nose.
“You bastard!” The king kicked the folk physician to the ground. “You said this would heal her! Why is she bleeding like this?!”
The physician prostrated himself, trembling, “Mercy, Your Majesty! The bleeding is the body purging its toxins. It’s part of the process–it’s unavoidable!”
And yet, as he spoke, I stood back up.
The king stared at me in disbelief
It had been so long since I’d risen without anyone’s help.
Chapter 9
