But there was nothing she could do.
Not yet.
--
The training grounds were bathed in the golden light of the late afternoon sun, the air thick with tension as the assembled royals stood in disciplined lines, their uniforms crisp, their gazes sharp. But today, there was an unspoken weight pressing upon them, something different in the way the elders stood before them, their expressions unreadable yet brimming with expectation.
Raya kept her face carefully composed, standing with her hands behind her back, her heartbeat steady despite the unsettling shift in the atmosphere. She could feel Kaius somewhere to her left, a towering presence that she had learned to ignore, at least outwardly. She had perfected the art of acting indifferent, of pretending that the past months of absolute silenc
