A Fate of Two Crowns (Of Light and Shadows #1)

soraea

A cold sweat plasters my nightgown to my skin, a scream still tearing at the back of my throat.

I sit bolt upright, lungs burning, desperate for air that feels thin and sharp.

My eyes, blurred with the remnants of shadows and distorted faces, snap open to the familiar mist swirling outside my windows, the palace gardens a ghostly haze below. Sleep, I know, will not return.

This restless waking is new, replacing the sound sleep of my childhood.

Over the past year, that sense of security has dissipated like morning fog.

Now, an invisible tension hums in the air, a warning I don't understand, vibrating deep within my own core.

Even the planets within our system seem restless, their weather patterns shifting bizarrely.

The magic that once flowed freely feels unstable, sensing an impending change.

It's a whisper of the world, and only I seem to hear it.