The Truth Speaks

Elara stood before the assembled crowd in the palace's grand courtyard and felt smaller than she had since she was twelve years old.

Hundreds of people filled the space—nobles, commoners, merchants, soldiers, former Saints and Umbramancers gathered to hear the Twilight Wielder speak. Word had spread that she would make an important announcement. Rumors flew: some said she would declare herself queen, others that she would disband the new government, still others that she was dying and passing her power to another.

None of them could have guessed the truth.

Kaelen stood to her right, his presence a steady anchor. Lyra was to her left, Corin and Maren behind them. The support of people who loved her, whatever she chose to reveal.

She had prepared her speech carefully, with Maren's guidance. But now, facing the crowd, she abandoned the script. They deserved honesty, not performance.

"My name is Elara Vane," she began, her voice carrying across the courtyard. "But that is not the name I was born with. I was born Elara Thorne, in a village called Thornhaven."

A murmur ran through the crowd. Thornhaven was infamous—the village purged by the Order for shadow-taint.

"I was twelve when the Order burned my home. I watched them kill my mother, my father, my neighbors. I manifested my shadow magic in that fire, and I used it to kill two Order paladins before I collapsed."