The carriage creaked and lurched forward, its wheels grinding over gravel that still shimmered faintly in the wake of the Pre-Ball’s glow—but it wasn’t the sound outside that filled the space. No, the silence inside was far louder. It pressed in from every side, taut and unforgiving, like the tension between two bowstrings drawn too tight—aimed not directly at each other, but near enough that each breath felt like the shift before impact.
I kept my hands folded neatly in my lap, the gloves still cold and damp from a grip I hadn’t loosened since we’d left the Blackwood estate. Half sweat, half nerves, entirely useless now. I angled my face just slightly toward the window, feigning interest in the nothing that flickered past—trees reduced to pale ghosts streaking across shadow. I couldn’t s
