Maximus's POV
The walk back to the palace was quiet. The kind of quiet that unsettles you deep in your bones.
Emilia's steps were light beside mine, but her silence pressed against me heavier than any chain I had ever borne. I kept glancing at her from the corner of my eye, searching her face, waiting for the usual spark of fire, for her sharp tongue, for anything that felt like her.
But all I found was the weight of distance.
“You’ve been oddly quiet,” I said finally, my voice low, breaking the silence between us.
Her head turned, her lips twitching into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “It’s nothing,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I’m just tired. Once we get to the palace, I’ll get some sleep.”
Her tone was light, almost dismissive. But the way her eyes slid away from mine…
