Another step. Her panic rose. Another step. Her knees buckled. Another step, until her hands clasped theirs – her parents’.

They took the last step together. She was standing between them, head high, keeping her face impassive as she had been instructed to do. The crowd was mute: a demanding type of silence that made your ears ring. Araxia gave her hand another squeeze, but Sapphire did not falter.

She was trying not to bend to a silence that could kill. But then, the slow bristle of applause began to swell, the cheering and hailing growing with each breath. Sapphire smiled, curtsying to the faceless people below her, before kneeling at the feet of the Grand Prodigal just as she had been instructed.

The tiara was slipped from her hair, and a heavy crown settled in its place.

The crown of Canmore.

A circlet of heavy gold with a lattice of green gemstones, the weight of every Canmore before her bearing down from it.

The crowd’s cheers intensified at the sight, and Sapphire thought she understood some of their enthusiasm. She was the princess they had mourned. A divine blessing returned to them. A good omen. But inside her, something stirred, and it made her feel undone.

She tried to ignore it as she stood up, and stepped forward to address the crowd.

‘I wanted to take just a moment to express my gratitude for your prayers and wishes for my safe return. I have much to learn but I am excited and eager to immerse myself in our beautiful world.’ Her hand shook as she raised it to the crowd, preparing to say the words she had practised with Fyra for weeks. ‘Today, I take the Canmore oath to protect, to serve, and to prioritize you, my people. I am honoured to be the heir to the Canmore crown and am looking forward to our future together.’

At the words, a chill settled into her bones, a feeling that something had shifted, that a darkness lurked just out of sight. And her eyes moved across the crowd, trying to pinpoint the source of the dread, but there was nothing but the sea of smiling people before her.

But the feeling clung to her, even after the doors shut tight behind them and the roar of the crowd was silenced.

As if it had taken root inside her, spreading through her bloodstream. Then she heard the voice again.

An ill-boding voice that burned her from the inside out.

Time has a way of revealing all, child. But your patience will be rewarded.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The large golden doors approached much more quickly than Sapphire would have liked.

Sapphire paused, wishing that Kip and Araxia were entering with her. But they were already seated. She pictured them, bookends at the impossibly long table, and it helped steady her.

Her nerves built as they waited for her signal that she was ready.