NOTE FROM AUTHOR:
Hey everyone! Just a quick note on how chapter releases work. I’ll be posting new free chapters every Monday through Wednesday for all to enjoy.

If you’re eager to read ahead, you can purchase early access to future chapters. It’s a great way to support the novel, and don’t worry—every chapter will eventually become free over time.

Your support makes this story possible. I hope you enjoy the journey!

Princess Thalia’s life is a gilded cage, a relentless performance of courtly grace masking a chilling secret: she’s a half-elf. For years, she’s endured her father, King Zylair’s, cold indifference and the predatory disdain of his advisor, Blair. But when a cataclysmic attack on her city tears through her reality, Thalia finds herself resurrected a year in the past, burdened with the terrifying knowledge of a future consumed by darkness.

Accused of a crime she didn’t commit, Thalia is thrown into the palace dungeons. There, she discovers Cassius, a centuries-old elf imprisoned and cursed, whose piercing blue eyes see not a useless princess, but a soul aflame with untapped power. With Cassius as her guide, Thalia begins to awaken her latent magic, confronting the brutal reality of her father’s monstrous ambitions and the deadly secrets hidden within the palace walls.

But as Thalia and Cassius navigate a treacherous court riddled with spies and assassins, they uncover a conspiracy that reaches far beyond the throne room—a plot to unleash an ancient evil that could shatter all realms. With time running out, Thalia must master her newfound abilities, navigate complex alliances, and confront the truth of her own lineage, all while staying one step ahead of those who would see her, and the world, destroyed.

Can an exiled princess and a cursed elf defy a predetermined fate, or will their desperate fight against the encroaching darkness be in vain?