Not glory. Responsibility.
“What do I do?” she asked.
Zaria exhaled like she’d been waiting for that question.
“You let him take you,” she said. “He’s already on his way. The attack has begun—thanks to the alliances your mother planted. Every faction she ever touched is rising tonight. All of them will storm the castle. All of them will believe they’re saving you.”
“But they aren’t,” Esther whispered.
The image unfolded vividly in Esther’s mind: a war room thick with smoke and shouting, her presence weaponized against her own people—Valedaran banners hanging limp in enemy hands.
She had always feared being used as leverage. Now she understood the cruel symmetry of it.
If she was to be used, she would decide how.
“No,” Zaria agreed. “They’re clearing the way for me. For peace. For what your mother wanted.”
Her eyes softened. “And when my brother finds you, he’ll use you as a hostage. He’ll drag you into the war room. He’ll gloat. He’ll threaten Valedara and extort your kingdom. He’ll believe you’re helpless.”
She stepped closer, holding up a metal band etched in runes.
“This looks like a magic suppressor,” Zaria said. “It isn’t.”
She clicked it around Esther’s wrist. Esther’s magic hummed, unbothered.
“He needs to believe you’re powerless,” Zaria explained. “And then, when he takes you to the throne room—when he thinks he’s already won—you kill him. Clean. Fast. Decisive. It will frame everything perfectly.”
Lucy’s voice cracked. “You’re asking her to assassinate a king!”
“I’m asking her to stop a tyrant,” Zaria said.
Esther’s pulse roared in her ears.
My mother died to save her.
She left all these seeds so she could survive. So Valedara could survive.
Her grip on Lucy tightened.
“I’ll do it,” she whispered.
Lucy’s breath caught. “Esther…”
The decision settled with surprising calm. Not relief. Not certainty. Just clarity.
Esther had spent her life bracing for a destiny she never wanted. Now that it stood in front of her—sharp-edged and merciless—she found that she could meet it without flinching.
This wasn’t surrender. This was a choice.
Esther turned in her arms. “I’m not doing it because Zaria said so. I’m doing it because my mother saw this war. Because she gave me the chance to end it before it begins.”
Lucy cupped her face, trembling. “You always jump straight into danger. It terrifies me every time.”
“I’m not just jumping into danger,” Esther said. “I’m choosing to protect the future she fought for.”
Zaria cleared her throat. “Touching. Unfortunately, you two need to look like you’ve been tortured.”
Lucy’s eyes snapped to hers. “Come again?”
