PAVATI'S POV
The dining room felt different after what we'd all witnessed in the great hall. The air was thick with tension, like the moment before a storm breaks. I picked at my food, but my appetite had disappeared the second my mind went back to Ayasha kneeling at that execution block. My hands still shook when I thought about how close we'd come to losing her.
The silence stretched between us competitors until it became unbearable. We all sat there like statues, processing what had just happened. Ayasha was alive. Marked. Claimed by the Crown Prince himself. The game had changed completely, and none of us knew what it meant.
Imara was the first to brea the terse silence. She set down her fork with a sharp clink and turned to face me, her braids swaying with the movement. Her eyes were hard, accusatory.
"Is this why you allied with her?" she asked. "You knew all along."
