"Get out!" The roar exploded from Prince Adam as he stord into his chamber, the heavy doors slamming behind him with a thunderous crash.
Rhynera got startled at the sound, her trembling form just a few paces behind him, barely able to keep up.
The servants who had lingered in the shadows, adjusting drapes or tending to the fire, scurried like frightened mice, vanishing without a sound. No one dared remain once that voice thundered.
"You! Get on your knees!" Adam’s fury rippled through the room like a wave of fire.
His arm shot toward the gilded doors and with a flick of his wrist, they locked tight, the sound echoing like the final toll of a death bell.
Rhynera fell with a gasp, her knees striking the cold stone floor.
"My Lo.." Her words barely left her lips when his palm collided with her face.
The force knocked her sideways, her veil falling from her head and her body slamming into the ground.
A sharp cry left her as she tried to rise, only for another wave of pain to blind her senses.
His palm burned with a searing red glow.
In the next heartbeat, a stream of fire erupted from it, coiling like a living serpent. It struck her arm, and her scream pierced the chamber. The scent of scorched skin filled the air.
"I told you to beco the best," Adam growled, eyes shining with crimson fury, his teeth clenched. "Not this disgrace!"
Rhynera sobbed, her voice hoarse, "It wasn’t , I swear... I didn’t know it would be poisoned..."
Another slap sent her reeling, tears and sweat mixing as she crawled across the floor. Her arms trembled violently.
Then he was upon her again, lifting her by the throat, her feet barely grazing the ground as his fingers tightened around her neck.
"How stupid are you to allow anyone to play against you and win!" he snarled, his breath hot with rage.
She gasped for air, her limbs flailing weakly. "I... I wanted to be exceptional... I just wanted to be worthy of you," she choked out.
The words only fueled his rage. He hurled her across the room like a ragdoll.
She hit the stone pillar with a sickening thud and collapsed in a heap, sobbing in pain. Her mind spun from the force of the impact.
"Because of you... that wretched boy Ashen now has power in the palace! You gave him that opening," Adam hissed, pacing in wild, angry circles.
"Father favors him now. I saw it with my own eyes. He sits among us like he belongs."
His voice cracked, revealing a bitterness too deep to hide. "He’s always been nothing. Because you failed ."
"I am sorry," Rhynera whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open. Her limbs scread with pain.
"Sorry?" Adam turned on her again.
"You have cost everything. And now that blind brat... she’s the one the people are speaking of! She cured the Queen and the King is smiling again. They see her as a savior."
He let out a furious shout and hurled a table across the room. Dishes shattered, flas flickered wildly in the sconces.
Rhynera lay still, still crying. Her breath was shallow but sothing cold blood in her chair
"You can’t be my Crown Princess," Adam said coldly, his voice roaring through the chamber like lightning.
His eyes now looked at her as if she were nothing more than dust beneath his feet.
The words hit her like a blow to the chest. Her breath caught in her throat, and her knees weakened. For a mont, the world stopped spinning.
All she had endured, every insult swallowed, every snide look ignored, every bruise hidden behind elegance and silence it had all been for this title. And now, he was stripping it from her as though it had never belonged to her at all.
Sothing inside her broke.
A scream tore from her lips. It was no longer the voice of a delicate princess, she was pretending to be but of a woman at the end of her rope, of soone who had burned alone in silence for too long.
The walls of the chamber hall trembled and Prince Adam froze.
"I am the Princess of the Celestial Realm!" she roared, rising slowly to her feet, her hair falling in disarray around her blood-sared lips.
"I was not sent here as a slave, nor was I given to you out of pity or desperation. My ceremony with you was to seal peace between realms."
Her legs shook as she took a step forward, but she refused to fall. Her fingers, bruised and trembling.
With another scream, she raised her hands, and lightning burst from her fingertips.
The first bolt hit him square in the chest, causing him to stumble backward, his golden armor flaring with light.
The second ca before he could recover, exploding against the marble and sending sparks raining across the room.
"I am not stupid!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I am not weak! You treat like I am disposable, like a mistake and you expect to remain silent? Never again!"
He growled and surged forward, eyes burning with fury. But before he could reach her, a third strike of lightning flared from her palms.
The blue-white energy held him in place like chains, sizzling against his armor, forcing him to his knees with a shout of rage.
"I will beco your Crown Princess," she said, her voice quieter now, but heavier, deadlier. "And no one, no one will stop that."
Her body trembled as she took a step back. Her nose bled freely now, and blood mixed with the sweat and soot on her chin.
"If you ever raise your hand to again," she whispered, her voice barely audible yet sharper than a blade, "I will bring down more than lightning. I will bring your ruin."
And with that, she turned. The great doors creaked open before her with a gust of wind that echoed her fury.
Her gown was torn at the hem, burnt, and dirtied from the sparks. Bruises blood across her arms and collarbone, and she walked slowly, limping toward her private chamber.
The mont she reached her chambers, her steps gave out. She collapsed forward into the moonlit spring at the center of the room.
The cool water rushed to et her broken body, her gown spreading like ink across its surface, floating in soft ripples.
The shock of the cold t the burn on her skin, and her lips parted in a silent gasp.
In her mind, one vow etched itself deeper than any wound. A whisper, calm and bitter.
I will get you, Lumina.
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