Chapter 15 – Secrets in the Garden
The garden behind the southern wing was hidden from the main palace paths, known only to those who had lived long enough—or loved deeply enough—to remember it.
Alric led her there in silence.
Eira wasn’t sure how the walk began. One moment they had crossed paths near the eastern corridor; the next, he had asked—no, commanded—her to follow. She had obeyed without thought, perhaps out of curiosity. Perhaps because she could no longer breathe in the same halls where Selis’s voice haunted her dreams.
Now, beneath the canopy of tangled vines and forgotten marble arches, the world felt still.
Moonlight filtered through the overgrowth, and the scent of crushed thyme and jasmine stirred memories that weren’t hers. The kind that lived at the edge of sensation
