Rivara's pov
The halls were quieter at this hour, the distant hum of voices fading into the vast emptiness of the corridors. Shadows clung to the walls, stretching long and thin beneath the flickering torchlight, distorting reality just enough to make the silence feel alive—watching, waiting.
Each step I took echoed softly, swallowed by the cold stone beneath my feet. The castle had always been grand, imposing, but now it felt different. Hollow. As if it, too, was holding its breath, waiting to see what I would do next.
I shouldn’t have come.
And yet, here I was.
Drawn forward by something deeper than curiosity. Something sharper than pride. The note in my pocket burned against my fingertips, its weight far heavier than the parchment it was written on.
This wasn’t just a meeting.
I
