ALIYAH
I waited patiently in the royal office of King Ashton as he spoke to the royal doctor in the doorway. Just like what I usually felt when he was around, the opulence that surrounded me was overwhelming. The room was grand and spacious, with high ceilings decorated with detailed carvings and gold leaf trimmings. I’d noticed it before, but when I first stepped in there, the argument between King Ashton and his father was more overpowering.
My thoughts kept returning to what King Ashton had said earlier in Queen Donovan’s chambers—that he couldn’t focus because of my presence. What did he mean by that? Was it possible that I was somehow catching his attention? But that wasn’t my intention. I hadn’t even wanted to be in this castle in the first place. I actually thought that I was alre
