“Good. Honest. Now, what do you feel when you are alone in your room, naked, with no one watching?”
“How do I free the others?” Elara asked. cmnf fantasy
She took off the tunic. She took off the shift. She stood at the edge of the world, naked and alone, under a sky full of cold stars. “Good
“You’re naked under that, I assume?” the second guard said, bored. “Technically, that’s fine. But the tunic is a man’s garment. That’s a crime.” She took off the tunic
At sixteen, she was sent to the capital, Verid Lux, to serve as a font —a living magical battery—for the Royal Collegium of Arcanists. She was assigned to Master Kellus, a gaunt man with spectacles and a kind, tired face. He wore a high-collared robe of midnight blue, stitched with silver threads that mapped constellations. Elara stood before him in his tower study, naked as a peeled apple, shivering despite the hearth.