Chapter 534 - CHAPTER 534 — Selene's Hidden Templepart 2

The command remained suspended in the temple long after Eryndor's voice had vanished, and nobody seemed willing to move first, as though the slightest motion might draw the attention of whatever ancient presence had just spoken through the crown. Selene stood beneath the floating relic with her hands slowly curling into fists, trying to steady herself while memories she had spent decades burying pressed against the edges of her mind. She had imagined this moment countless times, yet in every version she had been prepared to welcome the Queen with reverence, with tears, perhaps even with the fragile relief of a woman finally completing the promise she had made as a frightened girl beneath the cathedral ruins; she had never imagined that when the crown awakened, the first thing it would demand was Elara's surrender.