the timid bride

**Chapter 42 – When the Palace Trembles**

Zara couldn't sleep.

Long after Kael had fallen into a tense, silent rest beside her, she lay awake, staring at the ceiling and listening to the soft crackle of the dying fire.

The palace was too quiet.

That silence — unnatural and strained — wasn't peace. It was waiting. It was a storm that refused to break, tightening its grip around her chest.

Her fingers brushed against the scar on her arm — a fading reminder of the poison, the threats, the whispers in the dark. Her life had changed so quickly. From a timid girl barely able to look Kael in the eye to the woman now standing beside him as bait, as fire, as strategy.

But she wasn't afraid anymore.

No. She was something worse: **ready**.

---

Just before dawn, a knock sounded at the chamber door — soft, but firm.

Kael was instantly awake, sword in hand before he even opened his eyes. Zara sat up beside him, heart already beating in rhythm with danger.

"It's General Thorne," came the voice.

Kael opened the door.

Thorne entered with a face carved from stone. He bowed quickly, his gaze flicking to Zara before he spoke.

"We found a symbol etched into the eastern wall. It's the same serpent emblem—the one from the assassination order."

Zara rose. "That wall is near the southern servant's quarters."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "They're moving closer."

"No," Zara said quietly. "They're inside."

---

Within an hour, the palace had erupted into quiet chaos.

Every servant was being accounted for. Every guard interrogated. No one was allowed to leave.

Zara stood at the balcony as the sun rose, the golden light cutting across the marble like blood on silk. She watched the controlled panic below — officers barking orders, women weeping as they were searched, men glaring in quiet fury.

A royal investigator approached Kael with a sealed letter.

"It was slipped under the council chamber door," he said grimly.

Kael broke the seal. His eyes moved fast over the paper. Then he handed it to Zara.

There were only six words written:

> "Strike her down, or be struck."

No name. No signature. But the message was clear.

The council was giving Kael a warning: **Zara had to go.**

"They think I make you weak," she whispered.

Kael took the note back, set it in the fireplace, and watched it burn.

"You don't make me weak, Zara. You make me impossible to control."

---

Later that day, Kael gathered his inner circle in the war hall — not the council chamber, but the private room used for real decisions.

Zara entered beside him, her gown replaced by a deep crimson robe, her hair pulled back, her eyes alert. She wasn't just watching anymore. She was participating.

"We know the traitor is within this palace," Kael said. "And they are working with at least two members of the high council."

Gasps and murmurs filled the room.

Zara stepped forward. "We need a confession. One loud enough to shake the walls."

Thorne spoke up. "How do you plan to get one?"

"We let them think they've won," Zara replied.

Everyone turned to her.

"We stage a breakup," she said calmly. "You strip me of all titles. Remove me from the public eye. I become nothing. A woman cast aside."

Kael's jaw tightened. "No."

Zara faced him, voice steady. "It's the only way. If they believe you're no longer protecting me, they'll relax. They'll come closer."

Thorne nodded slowly. "It might work."

Kael paced the floor, then finally turned to her. "And what if they use that moment to kill you?"

Zara's lips curved. "Then you better not be late."

---

The very next day, the court was summoned.

Rumors had already begun to spread — that the prince was growing distant from his bride, that her influence had grown too loud, that the council was pushing for her removal.

So when Kael entered the throne hall with cold eyes and a face that could shatter mountains, everyone fell silent.

Zara followed, her expression blank, her body rigid.

Kael turned to the assembly.

"I have made a decision."

The crowd held its breath.

"Lady Zara of House Elowen is to be stripped of her title. She will no longer reside in the royal wing. Her engagement to the crown is hereby suspended."

The gasp that followed was deafening.

Zara said nothing. She merely bowed her head and turned away, walking out of the hall without another word.

Kael didn't look at her as she left.

He couldn't.

Because if he did… everyone would see the fire still burning in his eyes.

---

By nightfall, Zara had been moved into the guest quarters on the far side of the palace — smaller, colder, unfamiliar. Her belongings had been delivered without ceremony. The maids no longer bowed when they passed. The guards avoided eye contact.

She was invisible.

Exactly what they wanted.

Exactly what she needed to be.

She sat on the bed, clutching a dagger beneath her robes, waiting for the darkness to speak.

And it did.

The door creaked open at midnight.

Zara didn't move.

A shadow slipped inside.

"Did you think he would protect you forever?" a voice hissed.

She recognized it.

One of the council aides. Lord Merek's man.

"You overstepped," the man whispered, stepping closer. "The court is for kings and soldiers. Not timid girls with pretty eyes."

Zara rose, calm and silent.

The man sneered. "He threw you away. Like the rest of us knew he would."

Zara met his gaze.

And then — fast as lightning — she pulled the dagger and drove it into his thigh.

He howled, collapsing to the floor.

Within seconds, Kael and Thorne burst into the room, weapons drawn.

Kael reached Zara in a heartbeat, eyes scanning her for wounds.

"I'm fine," she said. "He's not."

Thorne dragged the screaming man up.

"Take him to the lower dungeons," Kael ordered.

The man spat blood. "You'll never stop it. The serpent has too many heads—"

Kael's sword was at his throat in a blink. "Then we'll cut off every single one."

Zara stepped beside him.

Together, they watched the man be dragged away.

Then Kael turned to her.

"I hated every second of today," he whispered. "Calling you 'nothing'… stripping your name…"

Zara took his hand.

"But it worked," she said. "And I'm still here."

Kael stared at her, then pulled her into his arms.

"I'll never let them touch you again."

---

That night, as Zara lay in Kael's arms once more — no longer hidden, no longer pretending — she finally allowed herself to exhale.

This war wasn't over.

But for the first time, she wasn't running from it.

She was **facing it**.

And in the arms of the man who once scared her, once confused her, once commanded her world — she found the only peace that truly mattered:

**The peace of knowing who she had become.**