Selena's POV
A week passed.
The days were quiet now, but it wasn’t peace—it was silence before the storm. Anastasia had been exiled. Not killed, not locked up, just sent away. Banished, like I had been. It should’ve been enough.
But it wasn’t.
I walked through the village again, my hood pulled low, eyes alert. Whispers followed me wherever I went. Some still didn’t trust me. Others looked at me like I was some sort of tragic hero. The girl who took the fall for her maid. Who forgave her father. Who came back stronger. I let them think what they wanted. Let them believe what they needed.
I was back. That’s all that mattered.
I avoided Ivy for the first few days. Not out of fear, but because I didn’t want to rush. Revenge isn’t loud and messy. It’s slow. Quiet. Like poison in water.
