Cassie’s POV
When I arrived back at the palace, the dawn broke like a battered white color on the horizon. The servants were stirring, fire and wet earth scent filled the halls. I walked through the east wing, jaw set high, feet slow—towards a serenity I lacked.
But all around me the air pulsed. As if the magic I'd drawn in had trailed after me, catching itself up in silken threads at my ankles. Something in me was altered. Not only physically, but way down in my soul.
And I wasn't the only one who recognized it.
"Cassie."
I froze at the sound of Mark’s voice. He leaned against the archway that led to the inner gardens, dressed in a dark tunic, his hair still damped from morning training. His golden eyes flicked over me.
“You smell different.”
My heart beat once, hard. “Do I?”
He s
