Queen Gabriella sat alone in the moon garden with untouched tea growing cold beside her.
The garden was silent except for the soft rustling of white moon lilies dancing beneath the evening breeze.
Usually the place calmed her, usually it helped quiet the endless noise inside her head.
Today it only made the silence louder.
Her fingers tightened around the porcelain cup as her mind replayed everything she had done to Elara.
The poison, the humiliation, an the hatred.
The constant need to make the girl smaller just because Kaelis looked at her differently.
Gabriella shut her eyes.
What exactly had Elara ever done to her?
Nothing.
Nothing except exist.
And somehow that alone had threatened her. Her throat tightened painfully.
The image of George suddenly flashed through her mind without warning.
She saw him exactly how he used to be. Leaning lazily against the market wall years ago with that charming smile that had once made her heart pound like a fool.
