The second trial began in silence.
No magic, no visions just darkness and Aurelia alone in a corridor of mirrors, each reflecting not her face, but twisted versions of herself. In one, she wore a crown of bones. In another, her hands were soaked in blood. In the last, she held a child... whose face was shrouded in shadow.
Trial Two: The Temptation of Power
"You could rule them all," whispered a voice that echoed from nowhere and everywhere. "No Sovereign. No husband. No chain. Just you."
Each mirror stepped forward, becoming real. Aurelia's darker selves circled her like predators. One touched her shoulder.
"You don't need Lucien. He's afraid of you. Of what you might become."
"I don't want to rule through fear," she said. "That's their way."
"But power doesn't ask permission," hissed the voice. "It takes."
Aurelia drew a dagger not one of steel, but one woven from her own essence. Her inner light. "I don't want their throne," she said. "I want my own."
And with that, she shattered every mirror.