Dinner in the royal quarters was quieter than usual.
The servants moved in near silence, placing carved bowls of yam, roasted fish, and spiced greens across the low table before retreating to the walls.
Normally, Zaina liked these rare private meals.
Normally, it was the only place the King became less king and more father.
Tonight she barely touched her food.
Her fingers tapped restlessly against the rim of her cup.
Across from her, the Queen watched for several moments before setting down her spoon.
"You are grinding your teeth," she said.
Zaina blinked. "I am not."
"You are," her father said without looking up.
She stopped immediately.
The King tore a piece of fish with practiced ease, then finally glanced at her. "You have looked troubled since morning."
Zaina hesitated.
The Queen tilted her head. "Speak."
She looked between them.
Then set her cup down.
"I think we should assume our rivals knows."
The room stilled.
Her father's expression sharpened at once.
"Knows what?"
"About the ritual," Zaina said. "About everything."
The Queen's hand paused halfway to her plate.
Zaina leaned forward.
"The boundary is broken. If men crossed our forest, then our enemies already know something is wrong. Why would they not watch? Why would they not listen?"
Her father sat back slowly.
"Walls have ears," Zaina continued. "And broken borders have wider ones."
The King was silent for a long moment.
"That is not an unreasonable thought."
Zaina blinked.
He… agreed?
The Queen studied her husband with approval.
The King set down his food.
"I will speak with the council before dawn," he said.
"Extra patrols around the mountain route. More guards at the shrine. No one enters ritual grounds unsearched."
Zaina straightened slightly. "And the boundary?"
"We cannot repair it before the rite," he replied. "But we can prepare for those who may test it."
A small satisfaction warmed her chest.
For once….
She had not been dismissed.
But it faded quickly.
Because the unease remained.
The Queen noticed.
"You still look unconvinced."
Zaina stared at the table.
"I just…" She exhaled. "I feel like something is wrong."
Neither parent spoke.
She hated how childish that sounded.
So she forced herself to explain.
"The men in the forest…" she said carefully.
"They were not hunters. They moved like soldiers. They were looking for something."
The King's eyes narrowed.
The Queen's shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly.
Zaina continued.
"And if they were already there before the scouts found the broken seals…" She swallowed.
"Then maybe they broke them on purpose."
Silence.
Then the King nodded once.
"That possibility will be considered."
The Queen finally spoke, her voice calm but firm.
"You did right to raise it."
Zaina looked at her mother.
There was something unreadable in her eyes.
Pride.
And fear.
Dinner continued after that, but the warmth never fully returned.
The King soon excused himself to summon his advisors.
The Queen followed shortly after.
Zaina remained seated a moment longer, staring at the untouched food on her plate.
Then she stood and left.
Her chamber felt too small.
Too still.
She paced across the room.
Back again.
Then again.
The moonlight stretched through the window in pale silver bars as her thoughts turned over themselves.
The men in the forest.
Their weapons.
Their voices.
Their certainty.
They had not looked lost or afraid.
And then—
The Leopard.
Her pacing stopped.
She stood frozen in the center of the room.
That moment replayed in her mind with painful clarity.
The stillness.
The eyes.
The way it had looked at her.
Not like prey.
Or like stranger.
Like Recognition.
Her breath shallowed.
Why had it shown itself?
Why her?
Why then?
And why had her mother arrived exactly when she did?
Zaina frowned.
That part bothered her more the longer she thought about it.
Her mother had found her too quickly.
Too precisely.
As if she had known where to go.
No.
Not known…
Felt.
Zaina turned toward her shelf and crossed quickly to it.
She snatched up the worn forbidden book from beneath her folded garments and dropped onto the floor.
Pages flipped beneath impatient fingers.
Old spirit lore.
Broken seals.
Guardians.
Hosts.
Signs of choosing.
She skimmed line after line until one passage made her stop.
"When balance is broken and the land stirs, the chosen may be drawn before they are named.
The guardian reveals itself first in shadow, then in trial, then in blood."
Her pulse quickened.
"Trial?" she whispered.
She read the line again.
Then again.
The guardian reveals itself first in shadow…
That had happened.
Then in trial…
Her eyes narrowed.
She looked slowly toward the dark window.
Toward the distant line of the forest beyond the palace.
Her obsession had begun as curiosity.
It no longer felt like curiosity.
It felt like hunger.
Need.
Whatever answers the council would never give her
Whatever truths her parents kept buried
Whatever had looked at her from those trees
It knew.
And if the forest had chosen to show her once
She would make it show her again.
Zaina rose slowly, book still clutched in her hand.
Moonlight painted her face silver.
Determination hardened in her eyes.
Before the ritual began
Before the kingdom buried itself in chants and ceremony
She would return to the forest.
And next time
She would not leave without answers.