WINTER
Loran didn’t want to release me at first, but when a guard noticed how long we had been speaking and began striding toward us, Loran let my hand slip from his. I seized the moment to slip out of the ballroom.
My first thought was the kitchen but somehow my feet betrayed me, carrying me upstairs instead.
“I’ll clean Luna Crystal’s room,” I said when I came face-to-face with a young guard.
He glanced at me without suspicion and stepped aside to let me pass.
I walked down the corridor where my old chamber had once been, my steps carrying me farther to the very end. I didn’t know what possessed me to come here. Perhaps it was recklessness, perhaps longing, but I couldn’t stop myself.
And when I pressed my hand to the door, luck seemed to be on my side. The latch gave easily, and
