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Chapter 13: The Architecture of Leaving

Author: Priscilla Jude
last update publish date: 2026-04-29 14:59:45

POV: Rafe

I had not planned to be the one who said it.

In truth, I had not planned most of what the last several days had required of me. I was a man who planned — who moved through the world with the particular precision of someone who had learned early that imprecision was a form of cruelty, to yourself and to anyone foolish enough to rely on you. I had a code. The code was not rigid, but it was load-bearing, and I had not anticipated standing in a woman's room in a palace that wanted her dea
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