The Gilded IsolationThe bed was the worst kind of torture. It was vast and soft, draped in white furs that felt like clouds, yet the moment I lay down, the silence of the Royal Wing became an unbearable pressure. I was accustomed to the rhythmic breathing of a hundred wolves, the constant creak of floorboards, and the sour, familiar scent of the kennel. This silence was hollow, the quiet of a tomb.I finally sat up, the heavy indigo silk robes the handmaids had forced me into pooling around me. They were beautiful, a dark, royal blue that somehow deepened the brown intensity of my eyes, but they felt like woven lead. The silver chain, the symbol of the True Luna, was still around my throat, cool and heavy, a physical reminder of the leash Demetrius had snapped onto my life.I walked to the enormous window, where glass stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Below, the city of the Iron Citadel glittered, a terrifying sprawl of power and light. Up here, I was invisible, untouchable, a
Last Updated : 2026-01-19 Read more