Chapter 6
The Forgotten Palace
Beneath the roots, a hidden palace reveals portraits of a single fairy, not eight. The guardians are forced to question their identities, their reflections in the magic mirrors showing only one woman.
The air in the hidden palace grew thick with an ancient stillness, a silence that pressed in on the eight fairies like a physical weight. They had followed the winding roots, deeper than any of them had dared to venture before, and found this place, slumbering beneath the earth as if it had been waiting for them. Rowan, ever vigilant, kept her hand near the hilt of her thorn-sword, her gaze sweeping over the dust-laden tapestries that clung to the stone walls like decaying skin. Bramble’s ember wings pulsed with a low, restless heat, her fiery presence a stark contrast to the cool, forgotten elegance of the chamber. Wren, clutching her rag doll, kept close to Ivy, her wide eyes darting towards every shadowed alcove, convinced that unseen things stirred in the gloom.
They moved through the main hall, their footsteps echoing unnervingly in the vast space. It was here, lining the walls, that the portraits hung. At first glance, they seemed like any other ancient artwork, faded and cracked with age. But as their eyes adjusted to