In the weeks that followed King Rufus's death, just as Raya had predicted with that chilling certainty in her voice, the once mighty kingdom he ruled with an iron fist fell into chaos, a relentless, merciless chaos that spread like wildfire through every corner, every village, and every court, where once there was fear and silent obedience, now there was only suspicion, rebellion, and the vicious struggle for dominance, the loyalists that had once bowed before the king now baring their fangs at each other, old grudges and hidden ambitions surfacing like poison in the bloodstream of a dying beast.
Dahlia, trapped in the eye of this hurricane, found herself torn apart inside, her mind a battlefield of clashing emotions, grief for her father's demise gnawing at her like acid, a grief she cou
