Novel & Cerita Tangled Crown

I’ll shatter it before dawn, and I’ll make her thank me for it. ═══════⊹⊱♚⊰⊹═══════ What Awaits Author’s Note: You’ve met the firebrand. You’ve seen the king fracture. Now—watch the tower burn. Midnight Crown is a dark romance built on crime, obsession, betrayal, and slow-burn war between two people who should have destroyed each other—but didn’t. Because control is never clean, and neither is love. You’ll drown in silence and secrets as the story unfolds through four arcs:

“I know.” A small, breathless smile curved his mouth. “And I love you too,” she whispered. Below them, the lake caught the light and held it, and the forest around it carried that warmth inward—through root and stone, through corridor and heart—until it reached the quieter halls of the palace, where another choice waited with equal patience. Corren stood alone in the Hall of Roots, the Verdant Crown resting upon its living pedestal. It was not forged by fire but shaped by time—wood veined with gold, leaves eternally green along its arch. The chamber smelled of earth and rain, ancient and steady.

The black velvet inside framed something bright pink. A plastic crown. Gabby’s pink glitter crown. For a moment, no one spoke. “MY CROWN!” Gabby screamed so loudly the tiny hammer in my head went back to working overtime. She reached for it with both hands. “Easy,” I said. Kendra picked up the crown first and inspected it. “Oh.” “What?” I asked. She turned it toward the light. The crown was clean. No chocolate smudges from Al’s hands. No dust from the grounds at Villa Miravento. The underside, which had been slightly sticky yesterday because Gabby once tried to repair it with lip gloss, wasn’t sticky anymore either.

The flickering candlelight reflected off the polished metal, catching the object resting on the dark velvet cushion. My breath hitched. It was a silver crown, intricately forged to look like twisted roots and thorned branches. A half-transformed wolf was carved directly into the front of it. The King stepped toward me, lifting the crown from the tray with both hands. His eyes locked onto mine, hard and demanding. "May you wear this crown in duty to the lineage you carry, and to the protection of the throne." He raised the silver above my head. I felt like I was drowning. I looked up at Eilís one last time, just to catch a flick of anything. Any emotion. Any sign.

I stared at him for a second, then took it slowly, already annoyed because if this was another attempt at convincing me of this nonsense, I was about to lose whatever patience I had left. Then I looked at the screen. And just like that, everything in my head went completely still. The headline was bold. Too bold and looks too real. Alexandra Fisher Hale the queen of the business world is pregnant and to be married to Jacob Grey. I blinked. Once. Twice. Then I looked up at Dada. “What the actual fuck?” The words came out before I could even stop them, because at this point, manners were the least of my concerns. Because what?

All I hear is, "By the power vested upon me, you will become the queen of Evergreen, from today until forever!" A maid removes my crown and my father stands up. He walks next to the high priest. The priest takes a few steps back and my father takes the queen's crown. Gently, he crowns me with it and says, "I am so proud of you!" I force a smile and curtsy as father nods and goes back into his place. I face the crowd once and for all. The high priest announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Children, world-- help me welcome the new Queen of Evergreen, Aurora Wintershade!"

"You boys are the Crown, aren't you?" "Crown? What crown?" I turned to her, completely clueless about what she just said. Shanelle pointed at Cas and said, "Castile Christophe," she moved her finger to Raphael saying, "Raphael Richardson." And then to Owl, she said, "Orlando Oslovski," she smiled shyly when she pointed at Liam, "William Windsor and," she pointed to Niel, "Nathaniel Nicholson. C R O W N," she spelled each alphabet at the front of their name. "Together they are the Crown of Carlton High."

Celeste said firmly “What?? We told you we were against that plan, that was why we asked for your help” Ralph lamented “I’m not done talking. Can you just allow me to finish?” Celeste asked. Ralph nodded, knowing that he had to let her speak.“I’m sorry for interrupting, you can go ahead” Celeste let out a sigh of relief and continued, “As I was saying, Lovette and Gabriel will tie the knot, but the twist is that it won't be Lovette getting married, it will be me in her shoes," she explained with a smile.

He slices through the paper with slow precision, a subtle tightness in his jaw. Inside, nestled like a secret in a bed of crisp black tissue, is a book. A hardcover. Matte black jacket. White serif font. The Tangled Truth A Novel He freezes. The title registers like a whisper in his bones. Familiar. Haunting. His gaze falls to the author’s name printed below the title in small, elegant script: F. H. His heartbeat falters. He sits down slowly, almost mechanically, and opens the book with careful hands, his fingertips grazing the pages like he’s touching something holy. Each page exhales secrets. Each word unfurls a tether.