Threadbare Crown
fantasy◐ TeenThe palace was all marble and whispers. A sharp-eyed advisor named Lord Castet greeted Mira with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "The coronation is in three days," he said. "Until then, you'll do exactly as I say." Mira smiled back and quietly decided Castet was the first person she needed to watch.
That night Mira searched Castet's study and found a stack of sketches: her own face, copied again and again, each one practiced. He had drawn her likeness for weeks. The real Loom hadn't chosen her at all. Castet had forged the cloth to put a poor, friendless girl on the throne, a queen he could control. Mira pocketed the proof.
What happens next?
2 ways forwardMira didn't run to the guards. She went straight to the Great Loom, alone, and set her hands on the threads the way the old stories described. The Loom hummed and wove on its own. A real face appeared in silver, the true next monarch, and it was not Mira. It was a kind-eyed baker named Sela from the lower town. Mira smiled. She finally knew who to fight for.