C399 BETRAYAL

"Mother?" Aria breathed the word, but it felt like lead in her lungs. She stared across the wide ravine at the woman she had mourned for years.

Her mother stood tall, her frame draped in a heavy cloak that seemed woven from the very trees around them. In her palm, a flicker of blue light danced—a flame that should have belonged only to Elara’s royal line. Behind her