Queen Elise
The walk back to my chamber felt longer than any march across a battlefield.
Kings and councils, wars and treaties, none of it had shaken me as much as that conversation with my son.
I had faced down beasts, traitors, rival monarchs. Yet nothing in this world carved as deeply as disappointment in a child you once held to your breast.
Even so, when I reached my door and the guards stepped aside, I breathed as though I had been underwater far too long. The great oak panels swung inward
and I stopped.
Caleb was inside.
In my chamber.
Pacing the floor like a restless storm contained in human skin, eyes sharp and haunted, hands fisting then releasing at his sides. He turned at the sound of my entrance.
And relief lit his face so brightly it hurt.
For a heartbeat, I simply
