Stella
Later, when the castle had fully woken and the day had begun to demand things from me, I found myself in my office, my father seated across from my desk.
Caspian had already agreed to solo parent for as long as I needed, knowing what today might bring.
"He is a cryptic fellow, but the best I could find." Dad warned me, offering me a slip of paper with vague directions.
"I trust you." I murmured, taking the paper and heading out.
I didn't tell anyone where I was going—not because I wanted secrets, but because something in my bones said this wasn't the kind of door you opened with an audience.
The castle gates felt heavier than usual when they shut behind me. Not forbidding. Just final.
I had walked out of those gates as a girl desperate to prove something. As a queen brace
