The castle was eerily quiet that night. The usual distant murmurs of the guards patrolling the corridors had faded, replaced by an unsettling silence that only deepened my sense of isolation.
Since the council’s decision, I had been stripped of Rigz’s protection. Officially. But that didn’t mean I stopped needing him. If anything, the loneliness had only made my desperation stronger.
I lay on my massive bed, the silk sheets cool against my skin, my thoughts tangled in frustration and longing. Every night since Rigz was removed, I had felt like a prisoner in my own chambers, vulnerable and exposed.
The walls felt like they were closing in on me, suffocating me with Stefano’s manipulations. My body ached, not just from exhaustion, but from the absence of the only person who had ever trul
