AVIONA'S POV
I woke alone.
For a breathless moment, I lay there, blinking at the unfamiliar chamber around me—the high, arched windows draped in gold and blue silk; the faint floral scent drifting from somewhere unseen; the soft glow of enchanted lanterns suspended in the air like captured stars.
My heart kicked against my ribs as I pushed myself upright, fingers curling into the cool sheets.
Where am I? The question barely formed before memory surged back in a slow, disorienting wave.
Our arrival in Lumara. The throne room. And… everything that came after.
Heat crept slowly up my neck and into my cheeks as the rest returned to me—not all at once, but in fragments.
King Faelan and me. We had been close. Dangerously close.
And the most mortifying truth of all was this—it had been me
