LOGINANDREW'S POV, “That seems premature. We're at a delicate point in the discussion—” “Which is exactly why we need a few minutes,” I said, holding his gaze. He looked away first, and I continued. “To discuss your proposals in private and speak our mind without you listening to us. Unless there's a r
ANDREW'S POV, I noticed the guard first. Not his presence, his absence. The post in the east corridor had been manned every time I had checked it since we arrived. It was a consistent, unremarkable detail that I had catalogued the way I catalogued everything in a room like this one—automatically,
ELENA'S POV, The report came in fragments, the way bad news always did. It wasn't clean, nor with the kind of clarity that made decisions easy. Just pieces, arriving one after another through channels that were supposed to be secure and reliable, and each piece landed worse than the one before it.
ELENA'S POV, “I don't need a recess,” I said and my voice came out flat. It wasn't cold, nor sharp, just flat, emptied of the performance of composure I had been maintaining since we walked through the door. Al'thor blinked once, and for the first time since this meeting began, I watched fear fli
ELENA'S POV, I don't know how long I stood there before Andrew noticed. He didn't say anything at first. He just shifted around, closing the distance between us by half a step, the way he always did when he sensed something was wrong but didn't yet know what shape it had taken. It was a small thin
ELENA'S POV, “During what?” I asked, not caring that I cut him off from finishing, or that my voice was loud. I had spent years making sure others were happy with what I was doing, and I wasn't the reason for any of their troubles. Now I wanted to be better than that, for myself, instead of being
“Good morning,” I said quietly, trying to keep the sudden yawn from bubbling up. He didn't respond immediately, instead of, he studied my face as though it were a wound he was afraid to touch.“You didn’t sleep,” he finally said, but it sounded more like a last-second observation than what he actual
RYAN'S POV,The light spilling from the half-closed door of Elena's bedroom cut across the floor like a thin blade. I stood there longer than I should have, listening for any sound from inside, but nothing came to welcome me. There was just the silence of the night on that side of the palace, contra
I took a deep breath before asking, “What did you find? What is it you wanted to talk about?”“I found a few things related to your childhood and how you ended up in the Black Stone hospital. The things you mentioned about the forest with white trees and the waterfall, they helped a lot in locating
ELENA'S POV,The breakfast was unnecessarily uncomfortable then it had to be, and I wasn't sure how to react in such a weird situation.The bitterness I felt in my heart when I looked around the room wasn't because of the food or the amazing company I was having early in the morning. No! I was bitte







