The forest had fallen still, as if the entire world was holding its breath.

Aria stood just beyond the stone circle, the shattered remnants of the Mirror Gate behind her, the echo of her shadow self’s scream fading into silence. Her body trembled—not from fear, but from the unraveling tension that had been coiled so tightly inside her for days. Maybe weeks. She couldn’t tell anymore. Everything had blurred since the night the crown first touched her head.

The weight of it still ...