Chapter 19
Elara’s POV
The palace was never silent, not truly. Even in the depths of the night, when the lanterns burned low and most of the guards shifted to drowsy stillness, the stone walls breathed with whispers. Footsteps in the corridor, the swish of silk as servants moved unseen, the faint clink of weapons being shifted from one soldier’s shoulder to another.
I used to find comfort in those sounds. They meant safety. They meant watchful eyes that weren’t mine.
Now, they made the hair on my neck rise.
Someone was watching me.
It wasn’t paranoia—I knew the weight of eyes, the scrape of silence that came after a hurried shuffle when someone had been listening too closely. Since the attack in my chamber, I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that even here, even within Lucien’s
