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
ELENA'S POV, I had faced councils, prophecies, and accusations without any hesitation. But standing outside Ollie's room, I could barely breathe. The door was slightly open, and I could hear her humming inside the room. In a soft voice, she narrated to her stuffed wolf parts of a story I had read
RYAN'S POV, I knew Andrew would show up before the guards even announced him, he never waited for an invite when something was important. I stood in my office staring down at the garden through the big glass windows when the door opened behind me. I didn't turn right away because I didn't need to,
RYAN'S POV, Elena emerged, not in royal finery—no gown or jewels like one would expect from the princess for her first public appearance. She was wearing a dark coat over a regular white blouse, and a pair of tailored trousers, had little to no make-up, and her hair was tied in a messy bun. She
JULIAN'S POV,I shouldn't have gone to her room like that, but I did because her plan failed terribly.I stormed down the corridor toward Georgina's chambers, anger pounding in my veins louder than reason. My supporters were slipping away from me one by one, praising Ryan as if he were some saviour.







