Elara's pov
Kaelen answered before I could find the right words, his voice respectful but firm. "The kind that should not touch your home. We are deeply sorry it has. We will leave at first light. You have our word."
Mara studied my face for a long time. I could see the fight inside her. She was a mother. Her first thought was for the children sleeping nearby, for the safety of the simple home she had built with Jonn. But she was also kind. She had welcomed us when we had nothing. She saw a scared girl, not a queen. Her maternal concern was at war with her fear for her own family. Finally, she let out a slow, tired sigh. It was the sound of someone accepting a burden they did not want. "Jonn," she said, her voice soft. "Let's get the fire going again. We're all awake now anyway. We might as well have some light and a little warmth."
As Jonn moved to rebuild the fire, kneeling before the hearth with quiet efficiency, the elder began to usher the concerned neighbors out. He spoke to them in a low, steady voice, calming their worried whispers. "Back to your homes, now. Keep your doors locked. We will speak more when the sun is up." They left, casting nervous looks back into the room, their lanterns bobbing away into the dark street.
Mara stayed by my side. She helped me sit up properly, her hands gentle but sure. She took the thickest blanket from her own bed and wrapped it tightly around my shoulders, tucking it in as if I were one of her own children. The wool was rough but warm. "Try to rest, Lara," she murmured, her hand resting on my head for a moment. "Morning will come soon enough. Nothing else will happen tonight. Jonn and I will not sleep."
When the room had finally settled, a new kind of quiet took over. It was not the peaceful quiet of sleep, but the tense, listening quiet of fear. The fire popped and crackled Mara and Jonn sat together on the edge of their bed, speaking in tones so low I could not make out the words. Their faces were serious in the firelight. The children had cried themselves out and had drifted back into a fitful sleep.
I turned my head on the pallet. Kaelen had moved closer. He now sat on the floor with his back against the wall right beside me, his sword across his lap. His eyes were not on me, but were constantly moving, tracing the lines of the ceiling, the corners of the room, the dark square of the smoke hole.
when I was sure Mara and Jonn were absorbed in their own quiet and worried conversation, I let my head tilt toward Kaelen. I whispered, my voice barely a breath, so quiet the words were almost lost in the sound of the burning logs.
"He called me by my title," I whispered. The memory made my skin feel cold again. "He knew exactly who I am. He said my real name."
Kaelen's eyes snapped to mine. They were sharp and alert, all sleep gone from them. He did not speak. He just gave a nod, so small only I could see it. It was a signal for me to continue.
"He said this was the second attempt," I whispered, the horror of it coiling in my stomach like a cold snake. "That the first was a warning. A warning I should have heeded."
Kaelen leaned his head slightly closer to mine. . "What first attempt?" he breathed back, his voice just as quiet as mine. "When did this happen?"
"My coronation," I breathed out. The word felt heavy. "You weren't assigned to me yet. It was.."
I saw the questions forming in his eyes. I continued, the words tumbling out in a hushed, rushed whisper. I needed him to understand. "In the middle of the ceremony... a man was suddenly just there. Behind me. No one saw him move. He pressed a blade to my throat. He was dressed all in black, from his head to his feet. A full mask covered his entire face. I never saw any skin at all."
Kaelen's expression hardened into stone, but his eyes burned with a fierce, cold light.
"He whispered in my ear," I said. The memory was as vivid as the touch I had felt tonight. His breath, his calm voice. "He said, 'It will not be today.' Then, just like tonight, he was gone. He vanished into the crowd before the guards could even react. They searched for hours. They found nothing. No trace. So, the story was changed. It was made to look like a brief disturbance, a panicked guest who had pushed too close. The official story they told the court was that my security was being increased because of general threats to the new queen. That's when I had to choose bodyguards.
Kaelen absorbed all of this. I watched his jaw work, the muscle tightening. "And the man tonight?" he finally whispered.
"The same," I said, and I was certain. "The same calm. The same precision. The same way he could have killed me easily but chose not to. He is playing a game. And he said the third time... the third time there would be no conversation." My voice broke on the last word. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling.
Kaelen was silent for a long, long moment. His gaze was fixed on the smoke hole in the roof, that black square against the wooden ceiling. "He's not just trying to kill you," he finally whispered. His voice was low and grim, filled with a dark understanding. "He is demonstrating his power. He is showing you that he can get to you anytime, anywhere. The grand palace, a remote village hut... it makes no difference to him. The crown is the target, and you can't take it off. He wants you to know that you are never safe."
A sob threatened to rise in my throat. I choked it down, swallowing hard. The fear was a physical thing, sitting on my chest. "What do I do?" The question was a tiny, lost sound.
Kaelen's eyes met mine, and in the orange firelight, I saw not just a guard doing his duty, but a man making a solemn, serious vow.
He shifted his body then, turning slightly. He positioned himself squarely between me and the smoke hole in the roof, his broad back blocking my view of it. His body became a living shield. "Sleep if you can," he said, his voice a little softer. "I will not blink until dawn."
I lay back down on the pallet, pulling Mara's blanket up to my chin. But sleep was impossible. My eyes stayed open, staring at Kaelen's back. Every shadow danced in the firelight, making shapes that looked like men. Every small creak of the old house was a returning footstep. The man's words echoed in my mind, over and over. The crown follows you wherever you go.
I had thought I was so clever. I had thought I could escape my gilded cage to understand my kingdom. To see its true heart. Instead, I had learned a darker truth: the cage had never been the palace walls. It was the crown itself. And I was now trapped in the open, under the wide sky, with an assassin who had promised my death would come on his third, silent visit.