It's a terrible thing, learning the limits of hope. I always thought deep down, secretly, recklessly that I was special. Not for the crown, or the blood, or the system whispering impossible things in my head, but because every story I'd ever read about girls like me lost, reborn, chosen ended with a miracle. A clever trick, a twist of fate, a timely rescue. A bit of magic, and everything righted itself.
Tonight, there was only the cold. Only silence where the system used to hum behind my thoughts. Only the echo of my siblings' names, Aeris and Arion, in the gutted corridors of a castle suddenly too large for anyone to save.
Velka stood beside me, knuckles white on her dagger hilt. Mara and Elira blocked the door, faces set with the grim purpose of women who had already decided which bones they were willing to break, and which they would die protecting. The world outside raged shouts, magic, alarms. Within, I felt small as a shadow beneath the moon.
