Lourdes POV
The morning light slipped through the cracks in the heavy curtains, casting thin slivers across the room. I blinked, stirring as the ache of sleep faded and consciousness returned. The room was quiet, unusually still, and I noticed immediately that Marcus’s warmth beside me was gone. He must have left at dawn, earlier than I’d expected. Diplomacy waits for no one, I supposed, not even Marcus. I sighed, the weight of his absence settling over me.
I lingered in bed, watching the dust motes drift through the narrow beams of light. Every inch of me wanted to bury myself beneath the covers and forget the world outside these walls. It was a luxury I knew I could rarely afford, especially here, surrounded by foreign expectations, but part of me longed to turn my back on the pressure
