Chapter 23 – Alric Confronts Her
The storm came at dusk.
Not the kind that shattered windows and tore banners from towers, but the kind that descended with silence—the air too still, the light too gold, and every breath too tense. In the great hallway of the western wing, gilded glass threw fractured sunlight across cold marble. Eira paced its length alone, her slippered steps the only sound besides the frayed beat of her heart.
She had avoided him for two days.
Since Selis’s attempted takeover, her control had grown thinner, the line between soul and skin almost translucent. Some mornings she woke unable to tell if it was her reflection or Selis’s memories she saw in the mirror. She had pressed a blade to her palm that morning just to feel—pain, blood, self. It had worked. Briefly.
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