45: THE QUEEN IN DANGER

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Inside the queen's chamber, Zara sat motionless, her body stiff as stone, her eyes locked onto the double doors across the room. She had not slept. She had not even laid down. How could she? 

The events of the previous night gnawed at her like a slow-burning poison, sinking deep into her marrow, carving themselves into her soul. Betrayal. The word alone sent a fresh surge of fury rippling through her veins, a wildfire she could not extinguish. 

She had seen Scarlet with him. She had seen it with her own damn eyes. 

There was no mistaking it, the way Scarlet had approached Alaric in the dead of night, the way she had leaned in and whispered something to him, the way his lips had curled into an approving smirk before he walked away. Zara had wanted to believe she was imagining it, that there was an explanation but there was none. 

Had she been a fool this entire time? 

The doors creaked open, and Scarlet entered.