The palace air was heavy with tension, not because of an argument or looming war, but something quieter. Something that stirred behind Evelyn’s smile and Adrian’s tight shoulders. The court had calmed after the scandal, but not completely. There was still a strange sense of eyes watching some unseen force that seemed to study every move Evelyn made.
She sat in their private study, running her fingers across the leather spine of a book her own unfinished manuscript. A tale of a queen who rose from ashes and walked through storms barefoot just to protect her family. Evelyn stared at the page she left half-written last night and bit her bottom lip. The pen was still beside it, and ink had dried at the tip.
Adrian walked in with a scroll in hand, removing his golden crown the moment the door
