Chapter 189: Never Happened
Zane~
The ball room stood heavy with silence after Natalie’s sharp question. My father—no, the king—seemed to wither beneath her stare, his aged body trembling despite the armor he wore. For a man who once commanded nations with a flick of his fingers, he looked pitiful now, kneeling and cowering before the one woman he had tried to erase.
His voice, when it came, was weak but rushed, like he’d been holding it in for too long. "I was going to use the ball to announce my heir," he said, lifting his head slightly but not enough to meet anyone’s eyes.
Whispers burst like thunder across the grand ballroom. Court nobles and council members turned to one another, some gasping, others cursing beneath their breath. The air thickened with speculation, fear, and tension.
My chest tightened.
The king continued, desperate, ashamed. "Owen Blackthorn came to me yesterday—early morning, around 1 a.m. He barged into my chamber in a panic. He said... he had a vision." His eyes flicked toward Natalie, then to me, then to the floor again. "He told me that if I announced my heir... masked men would appear and kill my son and I."
Gasps ricocheted through the hall again. My father raised his hands like a man confessing to a crime. "I asked him how I could prevent it, how I could save the kingdom and myself. And he said... he said there was a woman—someone close to my son. Someone who would bring ruin to this kingdom. To him. Owen told me the only way to prevent catastrophe... was to remove her. Immediately."
The silence was unbearable.
Everyone turned to Natalie.
No longer the fragile, timid girl from the shelter. She stood tall, radiant with controlled fury, like a storm cloaked in sunlight.
A sound broke through the stunned quiet—quick footsteps. Owen.