Alina didn’t need the mind-link to know who was coming.
She opened the door quietly, slipping into the corridor before the handle could turn.
Casius stood there, his expression calm, which was impressive given their circumstances.
“The library,” he said in a low voice. “I already called Lucian.”
Alina’s gaze flicked toward the closed door farther down the corridor—Talia’s room. “She’s resting,” Alina whispered.
“Good,” Casius replied. “She stays that way. She can’t be part of this conversation. We protect the Luna—even from herself.”
The library sat half-buried in the mountain, its walls thick with stone and old magic. Shelves lined the room floor to ceiling, heavy with records of wars, bloodlines, and decisions that had reshaped kingdoms.
Lucian stood at the tall, narrow window ove
