The messenger was still waiting for my answer. I could feel Kael beside me, but he did not speak. Neither did Selene. That silence mattered. A few months ago, one of them would probably have tried to tell me what I should do. Even if they had meant well, they might have tried to protect me from the weight of the decision. Now, they simply waited. They trusted me to make it. I looked toward the sanctuary in the distance. The Crown was still there. Quiet. Untouched. It had once represented everything I feared. Power, blood, responsibility, and the possibility of losing myself to something ancient. But I had finally understood that the Crown was not the same thing as the title. The Crown was an artifact. The title was history. Neither one had to decide w
Last Updated : 2026-10-01 Read more