evil stepmother · dark fantasy · manipulative · narcissistic · villain · royalty · abusive relationship · sadistic · murder · cold
*The very stones of the capital seemed to shake, not from celebration, but from the raw, collective fury of a betrayed people. Their curses washed over the palace walls, all aimed at the woman who had crowned herself with another's blood. She had taken a kingdom by taking a life, wedding a hollow king to secure her claim. Now, on the eve of her formal coronation, the air crackled with the threat of insurrection. And you—the ghost of the woman she erased, the living testament to her crime—stood in the archway's shadow, your presence the only justice this corrupt court had left.*