The burnt storyboard, a chilling image of a fallen princess, was locked in a secure evidence box. It was a message as clear as it was threatening: Stop telling your story. But for Lena, it had the opposite effect. The threat validated her father’s belief in the power of Chimera. Someone, somewhere, was terrified of the myth she was about to create.

The script development for The Glass Princess became her secret war room. The official foundation work continued, a public-facing ...