Dawn broke with a washed out sky, the storm crawling east, leaving the world damp and raw. Myrren had not closed her eyes once. Sleep would have meant surrender to the memory of his mouth, the press of silence that had bound her more tightly than chains.

Instead, she sat rigid as the Queen’s carriage jolted down the sodden road, fingers clenched in her skirts until her knuckles blanched. The lie she had spoken clung to her tongue like ash. It meant nothing. She repeated it with each turn of the wheels, a mantra, a shield. Yet the bond still throbbed beneath her skin, unrelenting, merciless, as though mocking every denial.

The countryside blurred past in wet shades of gray. Fields stripped bare by harvest, but no new planting. Villages that should have bustled with children instead sagged in silence shuttered windows, hollow eyes peering from doorways. A farmer leaned on his spade as they passed, his gaze fixed not on the crest stamped into the carriage wood, but on the sacks of grain stacked inside with the guards. His stare burned hotter than any torch.

Silence. Always silent.

Not reverence. Not respect.

Accusation.

The air itself seemed starved. Even the scents turned brittle—smoke too thin to warm a home, bread stretched with sawdust to fill bellies, the sour tang of sweat from bodies that had not eaten enough to mask their hunger.

Myrren pressed her palm against the cool glass of the carriage window, her chest tight. She had lived lean years in the artisan’s quarter, but this was different. This was a famine sinking claws into the marrow of a kingdom.

The wheel struck a rut, jolting her hard against the seat. Her satchel clinked faintly, jars rattling together. For once, she wished she carried something stronger than antidotes, something that could cure hunger, silence suspicion, undo a kiss that still seared her lips.

But she had none of those things.

And the closer the carriage rolled toward Eirden’s gates, the heavier the silence pressed.

The palace swallowed her whole, velvet drapes, gilded walls, and silence so heavy it felt staged. Perfume once drowned every corridor; now the air clung stale, as if the court itself had soured.

“Myrren.”

Serneya slipped from a shadowed archway, pale eyes catching torchlight like glass. She moved as if her feet never touched the floor, her presence too precise, too deliberate.

“The nobles whisper already,” she said softly, though her words cut sharper than steel. “They call Graymere your work. That you carried poison into their lord’s cup long before you were summoned.”

Myrren’s throat tightened. “That’s a lie.”

Serneya tilted her head, not quite smiling. “Lies are harmless. Whispers kill, and the court is hungry for a scapegoat.”

Footsteps rang against the stone, measured, heavier. Holt emerged from a side corridor, broad-shouldered, scarred hand resting against the pommel of his sword. He gave Serneya a long, wary glance before shifting his focus to Myrren.

“She isn’t wrong,” he said bluntly. “If rot spreads through the lords’ tables, they won’t look to themselves. They’ll look at the stranger with the sharp nose and sharper tongue.”

The words hit harder than Serneya’s whisper. Holt’s gaze was steady, but the weight of it pressed like iron.

“They already do,” Myrren murmured, pulse stuttering.

He huffed a laugh, short, humorless. “Then you’re quicker than most to catch on. Good. Stay that way.”

Serneya’s voice slid between them like silk. “The Queen doesn’t shield you. She sets the board, and you..” her eyes flicked to Myrren’s satchel “You’re the piece everyone wants to move.”

Myrren’s jaw clenched. “Then let them choke on their own game.”

Serneya’s lips curved, faint and unreadable. “We’ll see if you say the same when the gallows loom.” With that, she melted back into the shadows, her silence lingering like a blade unsheathed but not yet swung.

Holt remained, arms crossed now, expression flat. “She likes to unsettle,” he said. “Don’t let her see it work.” His gaze narrowed. “But don’t ignore her either. Serneya has a way of knowing where the knife will fall before the hand even lifts it.”

And with that, he left her too, alone in the stale corridor, the echo of whispers tightening like a noose.

“Myrren.”

His voice was unmistakable, warm, carrying even in the chill corridors. Prince Thane strode toward her, cloak still damp from rain, golden hair dulled by travel but no less striking. Guards lingered behind him, but he lifted a hand and they fell back, leaving him alone with her.

For a moment, she saw not the golden heir who had shielded her in the throne hall, but a young man stretched thin, shoulders heavy beneath duty.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, guilt lacing the words. “Not in Graymere. Not in that storm. Saints, I should never have let them send you.”

Myrren steadied her satchel against her side. “The Queen gave the order. You weren’t even in Eirden.”

“That’s what I regret most.” His jaw tightened, eyes burning with frustration, he seemed too careful to show the court. “She claimed it was urgent, diplomacy in the south. A gathering I could not refuse. But I should have. I should have been here to oppose her. If I had spoken harder, pressed deeper..”

“You would have been overruled,” Myrren cut in, sharper than she intended. His guilt twisted something in her chest, but she would not let him believe he bore the fault. “She wanted me sent. You could not have stopped her.”

Thane’s expression broke, boyish warmth cracking into something raw. “I could have tried. I should have. Myrren, I should never have left you to face it alone.”

The words landed heavier than any whisper Serneya had given. He meant them, not as courtly charm, not as practiced diplomacy. His regret was real, and it clung to him like the scent of rain-soaked linen and candle wax snuffed too soon.

“Corven was with me,” she said quietly, though the name burned in her mouth. She hadn’t meant to speak it, not here, not to him.

Something flickered in Thane’s gaze, resentment, maybe, or unease but it was gone as quickly as it came. “Then thank the saints he was,” he said, voice steadier now. “At least you weren’t entirely unguarded.”

Guarded. That was all Corven was meant to be. A ward of shadows, a shield of silence. And yet her lips still burned from what had passed in the storm.

Thane reached for her hand, his grip warm and sure. “But it should have been me.” His voice lowered. “I would never have allowed it. I will not fail you again.”

The vow hung between them, heavier than the Queen’s silence, heavier than the nobles’ whispers waiting in the halls.

The corridor stirred behind them, nobles drifting past in muted clusters, their jeweled whispers brushing the air like blades. Myrren didn’t need to hear the words; she could smell them. Fear clung to velvet sleeves, sharp as vinegar. Perfume overripe, masking sweat. Whispers of blame traveled faster than truth, and her name was already thick on their tongues.

Thane felt it too. His hand tightened on hers, steady, defiant. “They’re saying things about you,” he admitted, low enough for only her to hear. “About Graymere. About poison.” His gaze searched hers. “I won’t let it stand.”

“They want a scapegoat,” she said, voice brittle. “And I’m convenient.”

“Then they’ll have to go through me first.” His jaw set, boyish charm hardened into something sharper. “You are not their scapegoat. You are the reason this court still draws breath, whether they choose to admit it or not. And I will remind them of it, again and again, until they choke on their own lies.”

Her chest ached at the conviction in his tone. It was sunlight pressed against her ribs, warm and unrelenting. He meant every word.

But warmth could burn just as surely as silence.

“You can’t shield me from all of them,” she whispered.

“I can try,” he said simply. His thumb brushed her knuckles, a touch too tender for the stone walls surrounding them. “I’ll do everything in my power, Myrren. Everything.”

She swallowed hard. How easy it would be, here in the glow of his devotion, to believe him. To let herself sink into the safety he offered. His presence was light, golden and steady, a promise that whispered of home she had never known.

Yet even as her heart tilted toward him, another voice stirred in her memory. The Seer’s voice, coiling like smoke: Spiral of Light and Shadow. One will break you.

The words slithered through her thoughts, tightening like a snare. Light and shadow, Thane and Corven. The prophecy did not name which would break her. Only that one would.

Thane lifted her hand and pressed it lightly to his chest, over his heart. “Whatever comes, I will stand between you and it.” His voice was fierce now, raw. “I swear it.”

The oath should have comforted her. Instead, the tether burned hotter in her blood, mocking every vow, every promise of safety.

Later, alone in her chamber, Myrren sat at the window, listening to the faint stir of unrest in the city streets below. Hunger gnawed at the kingdom. Whispers gnawed at the palace. And inside her, the prophecy gnawed louder still.

Spiral of Light and Shadow. One will break you.

The words refused to fade.

And Myrren could no longer tell if she feared the breaking or longed for it.