“Take the prince down to the prison hold. We struck him down with a blow to the head. You must shackle him before he awakens. He’s too dangerous to leave to his own devices,” Duja said in a brutal, guttural voice Imeria didn’t recognize.

The general’s expression hardened into one of grim acceptance. “Right away, Your Majesty,” he answered without question.

Imeria’s eyes widened as she witnessed the exchange. The queen was dead. Pangil was a murderer. Which meant⁠—

“Duja,” she called as she reached for her once again. She wanted to hold her. To comfort her. To promise her that everything would be all right. In the blink of an eye, their destinies had changed. The world they once knew had crumbled beneath Pangil’s fire. The queen was dead, and only one could take her place.

Duja Gatdula was to be the next queen of Maynara.

But the second Imeria’s fingers brushed against her wrist, Duja recoiled. “Don’t.”

Imeria’s entire body went rigid from her icy rebuff. She stared at Duja as a renewed wave of hurt wracked her body. It was too late. The princess had seen what Imeria Kulaw was. She’d never let Imeria touch her again.

“General.” There was no hint of tenderness in Duja’s tone as she called Ojas back to her attention. “Have someone escort Imeria Kulaw back to her chambers. Keep a guard posted in front of her door. I fear she is in shock and may need some time to recover.”

The apologies turned to bile in Imeria’s throat. Distantly, she felt a guard’s hand closing around her elbow. She opened her mouth to protest. No words came out. How could she deny the Maynaran sovereign? She prayed for Duja to relent, but her mind was already made up. The new queen gazed impassively at Imeria, her face cooling into a mask of stone.

“Don’t look at me like that. Duja, please!” Imeria pleaded as the guard led her away.

The hand on her elbow gave it a comforting squeeze. “Her Majesty is occupied. She will attend to you soon,” the guard murmured in her ear. But Imeria couldn’t be reassured. She craned her neck to meet Duja’s eyes a final time. She wanted to cry out: I saved you. I protected you. I love you. I⁠—

“Enough,” Imeria hissed to herself, blinking away the memory. When she opened her eyes again, she was still frozen in the middle of the courtyard, caught in the sea of servants rushing with the wedding preparations. She tore her gaze away from the eastern wing and leaned against one of the marble pillars on the edge of the courtyard as she caught her breath.

The pain from that wretched day, would it ever end?