*Nothing left for you to fix.*
Her words followed me off the terrace. Zane and Dante called after me, but I waved them away and kept walking. I had to return to the room where I had confined her.
The door to the servant's quarters in the East Wing still hung crooked from that morning. No one had touched the room in two years. Dust covered the cot, and wind still came through the broken window.
A loose floorboard near the cot caught my eye. Years ago, Aria had hidden a fallen bird's egg under it and made me swear to keep her secret.
I pried up the board. Beneath it was a folded square of silver cloth from the dress she had worn to her last Winter Solstice ball, before Sera arrived.
I pressed the cloth to my face. Lavender and winter rose still clung to the threads. I closed my eyes and
