The guards at the passage didn’t move or question her. It was as if they had been waiting for her, and that felt wrong. In every other wing she had moved like an intruder, always looking over her shoulder, afraid of being caught. But here, in the most dangerous wing of all, no one stopped her. The only fear left was what waited inside.

She stopped before the gate. It was tall, made of black wood bound with iron, carved with old patterns of serpents and roses. This was the point where her path blurred, where her future would become clear the moment she stepped through. 

The guards pushed the doors open. The heavy wood creaked as they moved, inch by inch, until the dark inside of the west wing opened before her.

She could not turn back now. She could not think. 

The gates opened all the way, and the wing she had been forbidden to enter since childhood stood before her, inviting her in. 

Her parents had always warned her of this place, and still, she went in.