Eliana POV
The door clicked behind him. I waited, holding my breath, listening to the echo of Alexander’s boots down the hallway until they faded into silence.
He left.
The room—though lavish and warm—felt like a prison. No locks. No bars. But I knew the unspoken command: Stay here.
I couldn’t.
The Red Awakening still tingled in my skin, the energy just beneath the skin twitching slightly. Scarlet lay very still, as a smouldering fire lay, but I was aware not to think that the danger was past. It was just, as it were, in its beginning.
I crept out a back way that I had seen the day before, the back way half-concealed by the scroll-shelves. It was conducted around a dark walkway that opened onto the outward premises. The sun was setting and its rays painted the trees and rooftops with
