A month and a half.
That was how long the outer wall had gone without its king.
And somehow…the palace became louder in his absence.
The court ladies gossiped more viciously, the elders moved more boldly, and the concubines started acting like peacocks with their feathers spread too wide.
Elara hated every second of it.
Mostly because everyone kept looking at her like she held the answer to whether the king would return alive or not.
As if she personally tucked herself into his armour before he left.
Ridiculous people.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Elara sat lazily in the moon garden, one leg folded beneath her while Princess Selene rambled on about some book she had recently stolen from Prince Aurel's library.
"Apparently the heroine dies in the end," Selene gasped dramatically. "Can you imagine?"
Elara blinked slowly. "Sounds realistic to me."
Princess Selene looked horrified. "You are so dark sometimes."
