Chapter 20
Elara’s POV
The palace had always been a place of whispers, of corridors that breathed with secrets far older than she could guess. But tonight, the air was heavier, thick with the press of unspoken truths. She should have been asleep, her body aching from another day of training under Captain Selene’s relentless drills. Yet her restlessness drove her from her chambers, her instincts telling her there was something to be found if she dared follow the silence.
She padded softly along the marble hall, her slippers barely making a sound. Torchlight painted the walls in streaks of amber, but she kept to the shadows. She told herself it was foolish—sneaking through a palace guarded by soldiers who could drag her back at any moment—but something deeper tugged at her. Something she
