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Chapter 28: Masks Are for the Weak
Three nights before the Masquerade, the palace buzzed with silk and suspicion.
Courtiers whispered about colors and allegiances.
Servants practiced bowing to masked strangers, unsure who they'd be kneeling to.
But Nyra?
She sat calmly at her vanity, staring at a velvet box of porcelain masks laid before her.
White. Crimson. Silver. A pale blue one with the tiniest crown at the brow.
She touched none of them.
When the maid asked which she'd wear, she said only:
> "My face."
The girl blinked. "My Lady?"
Nyra's voice was quiet but sure.
> "Let them wear lies. I'll wear the truth."
---
In the underground dueling hall, Damon watched a servant stumble during a staged bow.
"Pathetic," he muttered.
"Train them again," he ordered. "This Masquerade is no party. It's war."
A silver-eyed courtier leaned in. "Shall we rig the music to stop at the Queen's cue?"
"No," Damon said. "We'll stop it when she dances."
"You mean Nyra?"
He smiled darkly.
> "No. The storm she drags with her."
---
Bryant received the package at midnight.
No name.
No insignia.
Just a small lacquered box tied in wire.
He didn't open it right away.
He knew who it was from.
Lucien.
And Lucien never sent things lightly.
Inside the box:
A red chess piece — the king, carved from marble.
And a note.
> I took her once without even touching her.
Let's see what I can do now that I'm closer.
---
Bryant stared at the chess piece for a long time.
It wasn't the piece that rattled him.
It was the phrase.
Lucien had said that once before — when they were boys.
When Nyra was just a whisper in a prophecy neither of them understood.
He gripped the king so tightly it cracked between his fingers.
---
Elsewhere, Nyra stood on her balcony.
Below, the palace shimmered in moonlight.
And beyond the gates…
A shadow stood watching.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
She couldn't see his face.
But her body knew the stillness.
The breathless silence of a hunter who once let her live.
She didn't look away.
Didn't call for guards.
She simply whispered:
> "Let's finish what we started."
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[End of Chapter 28]