Lucia
The firelight from the great hall still flickered through the arched windows when Lucia slipped out into the corridor. The low murmur of voices and the distant clinking of chalices, sounds of a world she was abandoning, muffled instantly the moment the heavy oak door shut behind her, her breath catching in her throat.
She leaned against the cool, ancient stone, its chill seeping through her thin gown. Long shadows, thrown by unseen torches, stretched and danced around her, mimicking the frantic pulse in her veins. Her hands were shaking. She had done it.
She was leaving.
So why did it feel like something had cracked open inside her?
Footsteps echoed—soft, measured. Not Kaelen. Too smooth. She didn’t even have to look.
“I expected a bigger explosion,” Ragnar drawled, emerging f
