Valerie
If there was one thing I was dying to do upon my return to Salmere, it was to visit the garden one more time.
Thankfully, the servants left me to my own accord, and I was allowed to step out of the castle walls without supervision. Lucas and Sebastian were still holed up in the den, chatting about their findings. Mrs. Manson had left to report the news to the humans in the village she had spoken of.
It gave me the perfect opportunity to escape. To walk the garden grounds alone. The only place in this world where I truly felt at peace.
I didn’t know if my decision to act as tribute was right, or if it would all be in vain. All I knew was that I needed to do it. That it was my only chance at finding Ava. And that if I stopped here—if I never saw Alpha Xavier again, I would never
