CHAPTER 2The servant did not wait to see Lydia’s reaction. She turned at once and pushed open the black doors, and Lydia was forced to follow or be left standing between two guards who looked as if they would rather be anywhere else. The corridor beyond was narrower than the ones they had passed through before, the stone darker, the lamps fewer. Whatever part of the palace this was, it had not been designed to impress.It had been designed to contain.The thought came uninvited, and once it did, Lydia could not get rid of it. The servant’s shoes clicked sharply over the floor. She walked faster now, clutching the folds of her skirt in one hand. Lydia kept pace, though unease had already started to gather under her skin.“This isn’t the royal wing,” she said.“No, my lady.”The answer came too quickly, as if the girl had expected the question and prepared the shortest possible response.“Then what is it?”The servant hesitated for half a step. “It is… quieter here.”That was not an an
Last Updated : 2026-04-09 Read more