Stella
The first thing I noticed was how normal everything looked.
That, more than anything, should have soothed me.
Sunlight spilled through the tall windows like it always did, warming the marble floors and turning the dust motes into something almost pretty. The castle hummed with routine—footsteps in distant corridors, the soft clink of dishes being cleared from breakfast, the low murmur of staff exchanging updates that weren't meant for my ears.
It was an ordinary morning. And yet my skin felt... wrong.
Not like I was sick. Not like I was in danger. Just like my mind was a fraction of a heartbeat behind my body, as if I kept arriving a second late to my own life.
Serenity brushed against my thoughts, quiet as mist.
"You're spiraling," she murmured.
"I'm not," I thought back, b
