Natalie~
Three weeks had passed since the coronation, though it already felt like a lifetime. The throne room—once a place I had only dared to imagine—was now the center of my every waking hour. It was no longer just stone and marble, no longer just towering windows and polished oak; it had become a breathing thing, alive with hope, desperation, and reverence. The air was heavy with it, scented faintly with jasmine drifting in from the gardens, sunlight spilling through the arches and scattering across the floor like gold.
