The hallway stretched before me, long and too quiet.
I had grown accustomed to noise in this palace– footsteps, murmured orders, the distant clatter of armored men moving through stone corridors. Now, there was only the hush of sealed doors and the faint, sickly echo of coughing drifting up from below.
King Zavan's gaze followed me to the threshold of the Chambers. He said nothing more after his final instruction– run, if you are caught– but the bond hummed tight between us, taut as a bowstring drawn and held.
Seren was oddly calm. Not eager, not reluctant. Simply present, as if she understood the gravity in a way I was still catching up to.
I adjusted my skirts and descended the first staircase.
The air changed by the second landing. It thickened, grew damp and heavy w
