The Crown Of Ash and Silver
Only a small, carved scale pressed into the wax.
She broke it open. Inside, written in neat, unfamiliar script:
He sees you. Do not trust the crown.
Seraphina read it twice before folding it closed.
Outside her window, the bells had stopped. The world was silent again, waiting.
She looked at her reflection in the glass, pale, calm, eyes steady.
“If he wants a storm,” she whispered, “I’ll give him one.”
The mark on her palm flared faintly in answer, its light soft and cold as the moon.