The sky was painted in mourning shades of gold and lavender, as if the sun itself was hesitant to let the day end. I stood alone beneath the boughs of a flowering tree, its petals fluttering like falling snow. The ocean breeze couldn’t reach me here. The palace air was still, warm, and far too dry. I missed the salt on my skin.

I clutched a folded note between my trembling fingers—delivered to a servant, left open on a silver tray. I hadn’t meant to read it, but when I saw his name in the first line, my heart betrayed me.

> “To the Crown Prince, > We rejoice to confirm the engagement to Lady Elira of House Dorne. The wedding is set for the full moon...”

My vision blurred. My breath caught in my throat, and though I had no voice to cry out, the pain screamed through every inch of my body.

*I had failed.

I had danced with bleeding feet at his side. I had smiled through the pain, through every searing step, every cut that blossomed like roses beneath my heels. I had looked at him with all the love in the world in my eyes—and it hadn't been enough.

I staggered toward the palace wall, pressing my palm against the stone for balance. I felt dizzy, not from sickness, but from heartbreak so sharp it stole the wind from my lungs. I had given up everything—my voice, my home, my life—for the chance of being loved in return.

And now... he belonged to someone else.

Inside, I heard laughter. Familiar. Bright.

*He was happy.

I turned my face upward, forcing a smile through the tears that slipped silently down my cheeks. If he was happy, that should be enough.

But it wasn’t. Gods, it wasn’t.

That night, I returned to my room and curled up in silence, unable to cry out, unable to scream. The Sea Witch’s mark burned like ice across my back, a reminder of the deal, the deadline, the end that was coming.

Only a few nights remained. And when the moon was full, so would my heart be empty.