Thud. Thud. Thud.
Exactly three steps. Not two. Not four.
For three agonizing days, Korren kept his word. The Eastern Alpha transformed into a literal ghost. An impenetrable, suffocating wall of black leather, cold duty, and dead silence.
He followed me everywhere. Down the long palace corridors, into the council chambers, out into the royal gardens. But he was no longer the man who had almost kissed me under the rain. He was a machine.
"Protector," I said, stopping abruptly in the middle of the hallway. I didn't turn around.
Thud.
He stopped exactly three paces behind me.
"Yes, my Luna," Korren answered. His voice was completely flat. Devoid of anger. Devoid of jealousy. Devoid of anything resembling a soul.
"I am going to the library," I said, my voice trembling just a fraction.
