I have learned that betrayal rarely arrives with a roar. It comes softly, disguised as reason.
Torin came to my chambers at dusk.
He did not send for me as an elder. He did not summon me as Luna. He came alone, without staff or escort, which unsettled me more than if he had arrived in full authority.
I was standing by the window when he entered, watching the courtyard below where my maids once bustled freely. Now, half of them moved between my wing and the corridor that led to Clay’s inner chambers.
To her, Selene had become a thorn in my flesh, and my competitor and I had no answer to that.
Torin closed the door gently behind him. “Zanny.”
Not Luna. Not my daughter. Just my name.
I did not turn. “If you have come to explain why my household is now divided, save your breath.”
He si
