Seraphine's POV
No one knew exactly when or why the king decided, but one morning Cassian went through the corridors of the inner wing and announced to everyone in a few dry sentences: “Seraphine’s new permanent place is the king’s anteroom. Whoever would give her a message must first report to me. The entry order does not change.” That was all. No explanation, no reasoning, just fact. Yet the news spread through the house, the kitchen crackled with it, the washer’s rod swung a half beat slower, and the guards in the yard changed shifts more quietly. Everyone was curious, and everyone asked the same question in their own way: “Why?” The king said nothing. And that silence was stronger than any story.
From the first day the anteroom seemed to fit me, as if I had always been meant for it.
