Da

I had avoided op

tared back at me fr

archives long

casional creak of floorboards that ec

idence locker nearby, un

now who I

anym

and pulled the file f

n my father's hand, tucked behind a st

the folder, feeling th

make a differen

age held on

NBO

ened around the

my pulse hamme

edly been eradicated decades ago,

ords, wiped from th

pointed to th

ody, somewhere, had been

from dying. Or maybe they had died, a

d in my chest as

t there on the page, of

r of Elara Vale an

w tha

she'd stood before me at

en her then, when

he council learned of her existe

name, in careful s

RVIVES, THE MOO

what th

nown, then my rejection of Mara wasn

't even

ght I'd first noticed t

her then, but inst

ould protect her

w she was here and som

s already

d came from

Ma

e her standing

id you

n't lie

ily wasn't

arther int

erased. That

Ye

Wh

on't

wed her e

answer you've

ared in th

found something els

t is

longed to

im, seeing Elara's name

oat as I saw the signature

an V

of my father

my own

uste

again I'd taken him into my confidence, trusting h

y shoulder to where the

is t

t her, my pul

ight have known

d me for a

rusted

true, and the worst part was, I re

ed my kingdom, or the friends I

n this palace long enough to know wh

than anyone