The inside of the palace was even more overwhelming than the city. The ceilings were impossibly high, vaulted arches of glowing crystal that resembled a captured night sky. The floors were polished marble that mirrored the starlight above. Guards stood like silent statues in every archway, their faces hidden behind emerald helms. The air was cold, still, and heavy with unspoken tension. This was not a home; it was a monument.
Kaelen led her through cavernous halls and up spiraling staircases, Alfred a silent, comforting weight on her shoulder. Alina felt small and utterly out of place, her dirt-smudged, torn human clothes a stark contrast to the silent, flowing elegance of the few courtiers they passed, who stared at her with open, undisguised curiosity.
They finally stopped before a set of massive, ornate double doors carved from silver-leafed wood. Two guards stood at attention, their spears crossed to bar the entrance.
"The Captain of the Shadow Guard and… the Princess Elyria," Kaelen announced, his voice ringing with formal authority. "An audience with the Queen."
The guards uncrossed their spears and pulled the heavy doors inward, revealing the throne room.
The chamber was vast and breathtaking. A single, massive window of flawless crystal formed the far wall, looking out over the flickering lights of the wounded city. In the center of the room, upon a dais of carved emerald, sat a throne of twisted silver wood. And on the throne sat the Queen.
Alina's breath caught. The woman was her sister. She knew it with a certainty that defied logic. They shared the same shape of the eyes, the same line of the jaw. But where Alina was a pale sketch, this woman was a masterpiece painted in bold, vivid strokes. Her hair was a darker shade of brown, almost black, woven in an intricate, royal braid. She wore a gown of deep emerald silk that seemed to flow like water around her. She was ethereally beautiful, and her posture radiated an aura of absolute power and unshakable control.
This was Queen Esmeralda.
She did not rise. She did not smile. She simply watched them approach, her expression a mask of cold, regal indifference. Her eyes, the same hazel as Alina's, were sharp and calculating.
Kaelen dropped to one knee before the dais. "Your Majesty," he said, his head bowed. "I bring you Elyria. She has returned, as the prophecy foretold."
Esmeralda's gaze shifted from Kaelen to Alina, sweeping over her from head to toe. It was a clinical, dismissive look, taking in the torn clothes, the dirt, the wild, terrified expression on Alina's face. There was no flicker of sisterly recognition, no hint of warmth.
"Rise, Captain," Esmeralda commanded, her voice as cool and clear as a winter morning. She finally addressed Alina directly. "So. The ghost has returned."
Alina found her voice, though it trembled. "My name is Alina."
"Your name is whatever I say it is," Esmeralda countered, a sharp edge to her tone. "You appear in my kingdom, a stranger in foreign clothes, bearing the mark of a forbidden magic, and you expect me to believe you are my long-lost sister?"
"It's the truth!" Alina insisted, her fear giving way to a spark of defiance. "I don't understand any of this, but I know—"
"You know nothing," Esmeralda cut her off, rising from her throne in a single, fluid motion. She descended the steps of the dais, her movements a study in contained power. She stopped just before Alina, close enough that Alina could see the faint lines of stress around her eyes. She was a queen carrying an immense burden. "You know nothing of the Breach, of the magic that is bleeding from our world, or of the prophecy that warns your return could be our damnation."
She leaned in, her voice dropping to a low, intense whisper. "The prophecy does not just speak of a healer. It speaks of a devourer. A child with our mother's reckless power who would consume what is left of our magic and leave this kingdom a dead husk." She looked pointedly at the mark on Alina's wrist. "You arrive, and the city's heart falters. You tell me, stranger. Are you here to save us, or to finish the destruction our mother began?"
Alina recoiled, speechless. This was not a sister. This was a judge, and she had already been found guilty.
Esmeralda straightened up, her regal mask firmly back in place. She turned to her guards. "She will be given chambers, but she is not to leave them. She is a potential threat until proven otherwise."
"Your Majesty," Kaelen began, rising to his feet, "the prophecy is a matter of interpretation—"
"I am the Queen, Captain," Esmeralda snapped, her eyes flashing with a dangerous light. "My interpretation is the only one that matters." She looked back at Alina, her expression cold and final. "I will not risk the fate of my kingdom on a half-remembered lullaby and a girl who crawled out of a hole in reality."
Esmeralda declared, her voice ringing with absolute authority, "We will have proof. The trial will show us if you are a healer or a curse. Prepare the Chamber of Echoes."