Chapter 49. The Shattered Vow

Mira had not slept.

All night long, her body had tossed and turned beneath the silken sheets, but every time she closed her eyes, the nightmare returned—the same one that clung to her since childhood, only sharper now. She saw Kaelen’s chest torn open, blood dark as wine spilling down the front of his ceremonial silks, and always the same broken whisper on his lips: Mira.

By dawn, her head pounded and her limbs felt heavy, as though her own body carried chains. Yet her nerves, her mind, her soul—they were sharper than blades. She rose with the first rays of sun, restless, trembling, her throat too tight for prayer.

The maids arrived like a tide. They did not ask permission; they simply moved around her with trained precision, filling basins with steaming water, scrubbing her skin with lavender oils until she felt raw, brushing and weaving her hair until her scalp burned. Every touch was soft, but every motion was unyielding. By the time they wrapped her in f