Chapter 58

I am a sister and a daughter. I am a lady in mourning. That was all I was...but some voices that kept whispering things in my ears. That I am a monarch—a Queen.

It was ridiculous.

I am anything but.

I lost track of time as I let the veil of misery blind me and engulf me in my own grief, completely blocking out any outside intervention. How does the world expect me to survive such a painful life? Why must they make me suffer and slowly take my family?

Hundreds of questions lingered in my mind, my heart swelling after feeling so many heavy emotions for hours—or has it been days?

Father. . come back, please. Come home to us. Wake me from this long, frightening dream.

—

My gaze was fixed on a spot in the courtyard.

I did not know where else to look, thanks to the thousand or more townspeople crowding the courtyard. I ought to meet their eyes from the palace’s grand balcony, but I could not. I could not yet grasp the thought of being the ruler of such a kingdom. My memory was hazy on how t