Chapter 126

Briar’s POV

The guardian in front of me, her lips slowly stretched up into what might have been a smile if it weren’t so unsettling.

"You have your mother’s cunning," she said, her ancient voice carrying approval. "She would have caught that same technicality."

"So I passed?" I asked carefully.

"You passed the moment you arrived with true royal blood," the guardian admitted. "The riddles were merely to see if you possessed the wisdom to match your heritage. Many with royal blood lack the mind to wield it properly."

"So all of that was—"

"A test of character, not bloodline," she confirmed. "Welcome home, Princess Briar. The Lost Kingdom of Nerida opens for you."

The barrier shimmered and dissolved, revealing the full majesty of the kingdom beyond. It was breathtaking—spires of living coral that pulsed with bioluminescent light, gardens of sea flowers that b