Chapter 52 Dreaming Of A Crown

• Davina listens as Aria explains what happened in the dining chamber, and the words don’t quite land at first, as though they belong to a different woman standing in a different room, not to her, not to this moment where the air feels too thin, and her palms have gone cold.
• Aria paces as she speaks, her voice low and strained, apologetic in a way that feels genuine rather than political. She tells her how Knox lost his temper, how the oath spilled out of him before anyone could stop it, how the room froze the instant the Goddess’s name was invoked. She tells her how their father had no choice after that, how none of them did, how the oath binds tighter than crown or council ever could.
• “I’m sorry,” Aria says again, stopping in front of her. “I know this isn’t how anyone would wish to be chosen.”