Chapter 4 I will go

The light came out of nowhere. A single, sharp beam cut straight down through the dark hall, looking as if something had ripped a hole right through the ceiling. It started moving slowly across the crowd. It didn't rush, passing over face after face. I watched it slide across the terrified guests, my entire body turning to ice.

Please, not me,

I prayed over and over, the words repeating like a broken record in my head.

Please, not Isolde. Please, not anyone I love.

It felt like praying to an empty room.

Then, the light slowed down as it neared our side of the hall.

Before I even understood what was happening, I felt a strange, physical tug in my chest. Like a magnet had locked onto the exact center of me. The beam swept past my mother, skipped right over my father's shoulder, and stopped dead.

Right on me.

A massive, collective gasp echoed through the room. The beam widened and grew blindingly bright until I was standing completely exposed in the center of it. I was totally alone in the glare. My heart hammered so hard against my ribs that I could feel the pulse thumping in my throat.

"No," my mother gasped, the word tearing out of her. She stumbled forward. "No, no, that's wrong. There has to be a mistake"

"There is no mistake," Lord Cassian called out. Even with the loud ringing in my ears, I could hear a smug, satisfied note in his voice. "The magic has made its choice. The elder’s daughter."

Cold sweat broke out down my spine. I stood frozen in the spotlight, feeling five thousand pairs of eyes locked onto me. The abstract fear I’d been feeling for the last few minutes suddenly became very real, and it had my name written all over it. It was the exact same trap that had caught the six dead women before me.

Six months, I thought. The realization felt distant and numb, as if it belonged to someone else entirely.

I only have six months to live.

"Please," my father begged, stepping in front of me. His voice cracked, a sound I had never heard from him in my entire life.

"Please, there has to be another way. She's my daughter"

"There is no other way, Elder Michael," Lord Cassian interrupted. He didn't sound angry, he sounded indifferent, which somehow made it ten times worse.

"The Dowager Queen's order cannot be changed. You know how this works."

My mother started crying silently, pressing her hand hard against her mouth to choke back her sobs.

Across the room, I heard a loud, desperate cry. It was Isolde. She was openly sobbing, shoving her way through the crowded floor toward the King.

"Dad, please!" she cried out, her voice frantic.

"Please do something! You have to stop this!"

"There is nothing I can do, Isolde." King Edric’s voice was incredibly low. I had never heard a man sound so completely broken and helpless. "You know I can't."

I stood there in the bright light, watching my family and my best friend completely heart broken . As I watched them, a strange sensation washed over my chest. It wasn't calm, exactly, but it was incredibly steady. It felt like the very first time in my life that I knew exactly what I had to do.

"I will go," I said.

My voice came out much louder and steadier than I expected. It cut right through through whatever Lord Cassian was about to say, and through the murmurs of the crowd. Every face in the hall turned back to look at me.

"I'll marry Prince Delmond," I said, raising my voice so everyone could hear. Inside, a tiny, terrified part of me was screaming that I was making a horrible mistake, that I was completely out of my mind with fear. But I kept my chin up anyway.

"Elara!" my mother shrieked, her voice cracking entirely. "Elara, have you lost your mind? Do you want to die…"

She didn't get to finish. My father quickly clamped his hand over her mouth, his face turning completely white. I realized instantly what he was doing. Whatever word my mother had been about to say out loud. in front of the royal messenger and the entire room, could have gotten her arrested or killed on the spot for treason.

"She has volunteered," Lord Cassian announced to the silent room, looking at me with a nod of approval.

"The Dowager Queen will be very pleased. The matter is settled."

The suffocating light snapped off, and the palace chandeliers slowly flickered back to life. As the normal light returned, I looked around at the faces in the crowd. Some people looked deeply sad for me. Others just looked incredibly relieved that the light hadn't stopped on them or their daughters.

Then I saw a face that didn't look sad or relieved at all.

Caron leaned in close as the noise of the room started to pick back up. She stood near my shoulder, speaking softly enough that only I could hear her.

"You are going to die soon," she said. Her voice was quiet and gentle, the exact tone someone would use to comfort a crying child. But her face wasn't kind. She was smiling. She looked completely satisfied.

I couldn't even bring myself to answer her. I didn't have the energy left to fight. I just stood there in the bright hall, watching my family fall apart in slow motion, trying to force myself to believe the lie I had just told everyone.

Before anyone else could move, Tristan shoved his way through the crowd. I had never seen him look the way he did right then. His face was a mix of pure rage and deep grief, and he didn't care who saw it. He didn't say a word at first. He just grabbed me and pulled me into a hug so tight it actually hurt, his whole body shaking with the anger he was trying to hide from the guards and Lord Cassian.

"Why?" he whispered fiercely into my hair, making sure no one else could hear. "Why on earth would you do that, Elara?"

"Because someone had to," I whispered back against his shoulder. Now that the main attention of the room was shifting away from me, my composure was finally starting to break. My eyes welled with tears.

Across the room, Isolde was slumped against her mother, still crying hysterically. But as I watched her, I saw a little bit of the color return to her face.

A small, painful part of me hated how obvious her relief was, even though she was crying for me.If I had been standing in her shoes, I would have felt the exact same wave of relief.

Tristan came close. "We're going to figure this out," he muttered, though his voice lacked any real confidence. "I swear it, Elara. We'll find a way."

I didn't answer. I just looked over his shoulder at Lord Cassian, who was already turning to leave, completely unbothered by the fact that he had just handed me a death sentence