The cottage loomed ahead, its small and worn structure barely visible under the pale moonlight. Isabelle stopped in her tracks, staring at the decrepit building that had been her home for far too long. After tonight’s ball, with its dazzling lights and opulent splendor, the sight of the cottage made her skin crawl.
Her thoughts burned with resentment.
“How could this happen? How could she, a pathetic little rat like River, end up there while I return to... this?”
Her fists clenched at her sides as she imagined her sister, likely already asleep on the softest silks in the royal chambers, maids bustling around her to fulfill her every whim. That life was supposed to be mine. The injustice of it all ignited a fire in Isabelle’s chest.
She would not stand for this.
“If the Moon Goddess ha
