The Queen did not keep them waiting.
They were escorted through corridors stripped of banners and warmth, stone walls bare as bone. Every servant they passed bowed too deeply, eyes fixed on the floor, as though fear itself had become part of the palace uniform. Elira felt it pressing in on her chest, heavier with every step.
The throne room doors opened without announcement.
Queen Altherys sat alone.
No courtiers. No musicians. No advisors whispering poison into her ears. She wore mourning black instead of royal gold, and the crown upon her head was thinner than tradition demanded, its gems unpolished. Her eyes were sharp, ancient, and tired.
"You broke my palace," the Queen said calmly.
Elira stepped forward before anyone else could speak. "I stopped it from consuming more lives."
The Queen's gaze flicked to the five seamstresses standing behind her. "You brought back the dead."
"We were never dead," Maelin said, voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. "We were stored."
Silence thickened the air.
Queen Altherys rose slowly from the throne. The sound of her footsteps echoed like a verdict as she descended the dais. "Do you know," she said, "how many dynasties have worn cursed silk to ensure loyalty?"
Elira's blood ran cold. "You knew."
"I inherited," the Queen corrected. "As queens do. A curse bound into beauty. Obedience sewn into ceremony. It was meant to protect the crown."
"It feeds," Elira said. "And it learns."
The Queen stopped an arm's length away. For a long moment, she studied Elira's face, the ash thread looped around her wrist, the blood dried at her brow. "Then you have made it dangerous."
"It already was."
A distant scream echoed faintly through the palace halls.
The Queen closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the crown felt suddenly heavier. "How do we stop it?"
Elira exhaled. "We can't command it. We have to unravel it. Piece by piece. By breaking patterns. By restoring names."
Old Senna stepped forward, bowing stiffly. "And by ending the royal weaves forever."
A muscle twitched in the Queen's jaw.
"You ask me to abandon centuries of power."
"I ask you to stop trading lives for silence," Elira said.
The Queen turned away, staring up at the empty throne. "If the curse spreads, the city will burn. If I destroy it, the crown weakens."
Luthien spoke for the first time. "If you do nothing, there will be no crown left to weaken."
Another tremor shook the floor.
Decision settled over the room like snowfall.
Queen Altherys removed her crown and placed it on the throne. The sound rang louder than any bell. "Then hear my decree," she said. "The royal looms are to be dismantled. The cursed garments burned. And you—" she faced Elira "—will lead the breaking."
Varrek bowed deeply, pain etched across his face. "My blade is yours."
The Queen's eyes hardened. "You will need more than blades. The curse will seek hosts. It will lie. It will promise."
Elira nodded. "So will we."
As they turned to leave, the Queen spoke once more. "Child."
Elira paused.
"Do not fail," Queen Altherys said quietly. "Because if you do, history will sew your name into its darkest cloth."
Outside the throne room, the palace bells began to ring.
Not for ceremony.
For warning.
The bells echoed across the city, carrying fear into markets and narrow streets alike. People stopped mid-step, listening, knowing instinctively that this was not a call to gather, but to hide. Elira felt the weight of those unseen lives settle onto her shoulders. Each ring marked a moment lost, a choice delayed too long. She tightened the ash thread around her wrist, feeling its rough comfort. Whatever the curse became, it would remember this night. And so would she. Ahead lay streets, shadows, and a war fought without banners, where needles would matter more than swords, and courage would be measured not by blood spilled, but by patterns refused. The palace doors closed behind them, sealing the past inside, while the future waited, sharp and unfinished, just beyond the stone.
No one spoke, but every step forward stitched their resolve tighter, preparing them for horrors still unwoven ahead now