E MCCA

wedding, Phoebe shoo

sacred blessings, and no noble guests showering me with flowers. I was dre

courtyard swarmed with high-ranking nobles eager to offer their congratulations. Whispers reached my ears that her grand wedd

in gate, our paths

Archon Brennon Montgomery. Her face glowed wi

é. The man my father had torn away

lex, murky mixture of emotions-guilt, perhaps, or a coward's silent relief-before he q

ly rested her hand-adorned with a massive, shimmering signet r

Archon's every word. His pride was entirely consumed by his glorious elder daug

Kandace into her fairy-tale life. For me, only a plain, unadorned black carriag

izing tone just before she stepped onto her golden carriage

k carriage with absolute, silent grace. The moment the wooden door clicked shu

pted as Kandace and Brennon departed in a magnif

f the carriage and closed my eyes. Beside me

my eyes and handing her a clean lace handkerchief.

t an hour, leaving the bustlin

nding in the marble hall to receive the formal bows and congratulations of the high nobility. And, true to her vai

senger on horseback wearing the Mccarty family crest galloped wildly past my c

n my chest. I lifted the corne

rest sped past us in a cloud of dust. Through the window, I caught

ile curved my lips. T

away to gather news from the passing couriers. When she returned to the private ro

in the entire capital! They are saying... they say that right as Lady Kandace was offering w

rashes emitted a stench so vile and rotten that three highborn ladi

ocent surprise. "Oh? Is that so?

usement in my eyes w

ofound awe and fierce devotion. She finally u

a fit of humiliation and rage, abandoning Kandace right in the middle of her glorious moment. Master physicians and roya

ed into the most embarrassing laughin

rame of the post-house, takin

mlessly with the rare royal preserves served at the Montgomery feast. The resulting skin flare-up was only the

d overcast, promising cold winds and harsh terrain. But in

standing up with my mother's journal safely tuc