ZARIA'S POV
The morning sun was entirely too bright. When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I braced myself for chaos, half-expecting the palace to be in a total panic. But when I looked out my window, everything looked completely normal. Servants were carrying baskets of laundry across the courtyards, guards were changing shifts with their usual quiet routine, and the distant sound of training swords clashing echoed from the barracks.
Cassian had kept his word. The nightmare in the gardens from last night was a total secret. To the rest of the world, it was just another regular Tuesday in the Shadowpelt Kingdom.
But I couldn't shake the heavy cloud in my mind. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the sunlight, Helen’s whispered words kept echoing in my ears, louder than the morni
