The courtyard was alive with whispers. I could feel them sticking to my skin like damp air, heavy and suffocating. Every step I took, I heard my name, softly, mockingly, passing from one tongue to another.It wasn’t the same fortress anymore.It wasn’t mine anymore.Kael was standing across the square with Celina, the sunlight catching on the strands of her hair like she’d been hand-painted by the gods. She was smiling, smiling, while one hand rested on her stomach in that protective, deliberate way.The way I used to hold mine.My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. I told myself not to look at him, not to see the quiet warmth in his eyes as he bent toward her. But my traitor’s heart did anyway, and it broke all over again.Celina’s gaze found mine across the space, and her lips curled, not in kindness, not even in feigned politeness, but in a slow, poisonous smirk that only I was meant to see.
Last Updated : 2025-09-23 Read more