/-Kaelynn's pov-/
When the rest of the guests were ushered into the grand room, I expected to be left behind… forgotten or delayed as usual, but to my surprise, Syrr, Nephroma, and Evangra guided me forward, pushing my chair with strange calmness.
How they managed to slip past General Loric without protest was beyond me. Perhaps they had pulled the scroll trick again, flashing the end of my mother's will like some seal that couldn't be questioned.
At the time, I assumed I'd never find out how they did it. But now I realized it wasn't just the Five Great Houses that had gathered for the king's memorial. The entire capital had come to a halt for this moment. Shops were ordered shut. Trade was suspended. And beyond the court gates, I could see a restless crowd… over a thousand people, pressed and waiting, though not permitted to step foot inside the inner Castle Court.
I smiled. How lucky I was, truly, to sit among such a great court? Among legends. But that happiness was naïve and never meant to last. No one could have prepared me for what came next.
No one could have told me that my own mother, Queen Isolde, would ask General Loric, the terrifying, scar-riddled man to cut off the heads of those the royal family no longer recognized.
I turned around, searching for my courtiers but they were gone. They had vanished from my side.
I closed my eyes. Breathe, Kaelynn. Maybe they were still nearby… maybe just behind me and I couldn't hear them through the crowd… until I looked again, and everything slowly, horribly, began to fall apart.
My eyes caught three familiar silhouettes standing a little too close to my mother's side in silence.
I had forgotten. They were her eyes and ears, not mine. Panic settled deep in my chest as the scene around me blurred into a sea of colored cloaks and cold stares. House Thorne found red. House Elrean hugged blue. House Varek clasped yellow… Each house reunited with its kin, and even the castle guards were pairing off with their comrades.
They all held hands together for evidence.
That was when I glanced down at myself.
A bitter snort escaped before I could stop it. The courtiers had dressed me in a flowery gown that was completely out of place in this color-coded spectacle of House pride. While others were wrapped in ancestral cloaks, marked in sigils and honor, I sat there in a flowery dress.
By the time everyone had found someone to hold, I was still there.
Alone.
In my ridiculous dress.
In a wheelchair.
"You," General Loric's voice rang out. "Come forward."
He was pointing at me.
They were all looking at me. Whatever strength I thought I had gathered abandoned me instantly. I didn't walk… I rolled. Or rather, it felt more like being dragged. At least he hadn't drawn his sword yet. With trembling fingers and a weak grip, I pushed the wheels forward. This chair was newer than my old one without any squeaks or groans, but it was stifling, and uncomfortable.
I had always heard tales of the Five Houses, how they were both the kingdom's greatest strength and its most dangerous fault lines.
Up close, they were terrifying.
House Thorne's banner had a snarling wolf. House Elrean had the piercing owl of their watchful silence. House Varek had their seahorse power… The General's family looked like walking ghosts, and the Violets… goodness… Lady Nysha looked at me like she already knew what I was.
My heart thundered as I caught sight of Prince Cedric seated high on the royal dais, his golden curls glowing like light itself. He didn't look like he cared.
But my second brother did.
Prince Daemon stood, then descended swiftly from the Throne stairs. When he reached the base, he stopped right in front of me.
I wanted to shrink into nothing.
This was my blood. My brother. We shared veins, shared lineage… but the way he looked at me with eyes as cold and blue as the South Sea you'd think I was a stranger who had wandered into the palace by accident.
He was curious, yet disgusted.
Did I stink? I tried not to sniff myself, but the thought wouldn't leave.
A cold smile touched his lips. "Who," he bellowed, "allowed this peasant into Court Castle?"
I wanted to slam my forehead into the nearest pillar.
A ripple of gasps and stifled laughter moved through the court.
I glanced sideways under my lashes, watching several nobles from the Houses try to hide their grins, but the ones from House Thorne didn't bother at all.
They chuckled freely.
Of course they did. Why did I expect anything different? The words on my tongue vanished. I couldn't breathe. A tear slid down my cheek as I turned back toward the courtiers who had brought me.
But they weren't looking at me either.
They were looking over me. Past me. They were the Queen's loyal dogs, finally let back into Castle Court after who knows how long. Why would they acknowledge the girl they had babysat just to get through the gates?
I wouldn't be a burden to them anymore. I looked down at my legs. My bandaged legs. The Queen had invited me, hadn't she? So why wasn't she speaking?
Why did I feel like a mistake that rolled in on royal wheels?
"Speak," Daemon snapped. "Or has the cat taken both your tongue and your dignity?"
Still, I kept my head low.
I couldn't look at him or any of them as I prayed for Veldera's earth to open and swallow me whole.
"She belongs to no House!" someone yelled from the back.
My body jolted.
The voice came from behind me. From the Red House. I didn't know who it was.
"Just a cripple brought in for our amusement and pity."
Mother, please. Say something.
But Queen Isolde said nothing.
She remained seated on her high throne watching without blinking or saying a word. The only sign of life was the way her pale fingers slowly tightened against her armrest.
A shadow loomed behind me. General Loric.
His merciless sword stopped just below my chin.