[A/N: This bonus chapter is thanks to Kollum once again!!!!! Thank you so so so much honestly.]
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Morning trains were carrying the first workers through Lorne, the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Aurelia. Shops opened along the main avenues, and temple bells sounded above the traffic. The night of Rowan's sixteenth birthday had passed without disturbing most of the city.
The royal palace stood above the government district, its white buildings arranged around a central hall with a golden dome. Covered walkways joined the residential wings to gardens and courtyards. Defensive inscriptions ran beneath the balconies, hidden among the decorative patterns.
Behind one of those balconies, Celeste twisted in her bed.
Her sheets had tangled around her legs. A pillow lay on the carpet, and her fingers pulled at the cloth beneath her as though she were trying to crawl away.
"No!"
She woke screaming.
