Darius~
I couldn't breathe.
Not because the air was gone—but because I could feel it pressing down on my lungs like a curse. Thick. Suffocating. Like death was standing behind me, grinning.
And I think it was.
Natalie Cross.
Natalie Cross is the celestial princess?
I stared straight ahead, but I didn't see anything. The chandeliers above me blurred into glimmering orbs, the velvet-lined walls trembled in my vision, and the people murmuring all around me were nothing more than shadows with knives for tongues.
I shouldn't have come.
I knew it. Every bone in my body had screamed for me to stay away from this damn ball. I should've listened, I should have run. Vanished. Burned my name from every ledger and buried myself in the deepest forest. But no. I let that Maeron imposter whisper poison in my ear. Urged me to speak. To mock Natalie in front of the entire kingdom.
And I did.
Like a fool.
Like a damned fool.
