The Palace Life

Zane~

The walls of the palace were too clean. Too polished. Too… sterile. Like a glass coffin lined in gold, all luxury and no life. It had only been four days since I arrived, but each minute stretched like a taut string, threatening to snap. The hallways echoed my steps too loudly, the stares burned into my back, and the silence screamed louder than any roar.

I was used to boardrooms, private jets, and sharp suits. Not ceremonial robes, long corridors that smelled of polished mahogany, and guards who looked at me like I'd crawled out of the sewer. They didn't see Zane Anderson Moor, heir to the throne. They saw Cole Lucky—the billionaire CEO who had no business walking the king's halls. And those who didn't know me as either? They saw a stranger. A nobody. A threat.