The hall doesn't explode.
It fractures.
People don't shout. They separate. Small clusters form—Khaleel with Seth and Riyaz, murmuring urgently. Elders whisper behind raised sleeves. My parents are pulled aside by advisors who suddenly sound unsure.
Stability has lost its spine.
I'm escorted out—not as punishment, but as precaution. That alone tells me everything has changed.
In the antechamber, my mother grips my arm. "Do you realize what you've done?"
"I told the truth," I reply.
"You chose a man over a kingdom."
I shake my head. "I chose myself."
Her silence is sharper than anger.
Across the courtyard, Fahad is surrounded—not by guards, but by questions. People who once ignored him now want proximity. Validation. Answers.
Power is already shifting.
By evening, the fractures deepen.
Khaleel publicly calls for an independent inquiry. Seth backs him without hesitation. Riyaz follows, citing procedural breach. Loyopi, quiet as ever, releases a statement calling for temporary suspension of unilateral authority.
That phrase spreads like fire.
Temporary suspension.
Khalid's name begins to detach from certainty.
And that's when he moves.
He doesn't confront me directly.
He goes for my parents.
By nightfall, a private decree circulates—signed, sealed, urgent. It frames my revelation not as courage, but as instability. Emotional distress. External influence.
I read it once.
Twice.
My hands go cold.
"He's trying to declare you unfit," Lex says, voice tight. "Not insane. Just… unreliable. Enough to remove you from decision-making."
"Exile?" I whisper.
"Worse," she replies. "Silencing."
Before I can respond, the doors open.
Khalid steps in.
No guards. No witnesses.
"Impressive," he says calmly. "You dismantled years of work in minutes."
"You built it on coercion," I answer.
"And you built your rebellion on emotion," he snaps, control finally gone. "Do you know what happens when symbols stop behaving?"
I hold his gaze. "They become people."
He smiles thinly. "This ends tonight."
He slides a document onto the table.
"A temporary withdrawal from public life," he explains. "Issued by your parents. Signed already."
My breath catches.
"They love you," Khalid adds. "They chose the crown."
The room feels too small.
Then footsteps approach.
Fahad enters.
Uninvited.
Unapproved.
"Don't," Khalid warns.
Fahad's voice is steady. "You can't remove her without cause."
Khalid turns. "Watch me."
That's when the doors open again.
Khaleel. Seth. Riyaz. Loyopi.
Together.
Khaleel speaks first. "This decree violates council protocol."
Seth folds his arms. "And it's already being contested."
Riyaz meets Khalid's eyes. "You moved too fast."
Loyopi finishes it quietly. "Desperation leaves tracks."
For the first time, Khalid looks uncertain.
Not defeated.
But exposed.
I step forward. "You don't control the ending."
Khalid exhales sharply, fury and calculation warring in his eyes.
"This isn't over," he says.
"I know," I reply. "But it's no longer yours."
As he leaves, the palace feels… different.
Unstable.
Alive.
Fahad looks at me. "You just changed everything."
I nod.
"And now," I say softly, "we live with it."