#Chapter 103 – Luna Declared

Lila The garden blurred. I stood rooted in place as the crowd surged like a rising tide, too many voices at once, crashing into each other, demanding answers I couldn’t give. My name—my real name—ripped through the air like a curse. Lila. Someone repeated it. Then another. “Who is she really?” “Elena Ashford was supposed to be—” “Did the King know?” I couldn’t move. The stone tiles beneath my feet might as well have cracked open. I felt like I was sinking into them, body too heavy, breath too shallow. My hands clenched at my sides, fingers shaking. I wasn’t dressed for war. I was dressed for a quiet, polite ceremony. The green dress clung to me, suddenly too tight, too visible. Like my skin wasn’t mine anymore. Isabella stood near the center of it all, calm and radiant. A perfectly placed look of disappointment on her face. She had already won with a single sentence. “There is no Elena Ashford.” And now they were all looking at me like I was a stranger. L