The castle feels different tonight. Not the walls or the flickering candlelight—no, those remain the same. It’s the air itself, thick with the scent of something unseen, something coming.
I lie awake in my chambers, the silence pressing against me. Luca had left hours ago, but his presence still lingers. The way his fingers brushed my skin, the way his eyes darkened when I spoke—he’s losing control, and I know it.
Good.
But there’s no time to savor my victory tonight. My mind keeps circling back to the Queen Mother, to the way she slipped into the night like a whisper of poison. She’s planning something. And whatever it is, it’s meant to break me.
A knock at my door snaps me from my thoughts.
I sit up, my heart steady, my instincts sharp. “Enter.”
The door creaks open, and one of my
