The Noose Tightens
Rhea
My lungs felt like they were filled with wet sand. Every time I tried to pull in a breath, it stuck in my throat, jagged and sharp.
"Rhea, stop staring at the wall. You’re scaring the s**t out of me," Taya hissed, shoving my shoulder.
I didn't turn. I was staring at the doorway of the servants’ quarters, my hands clamped so hard onto the wooden frame that my knuckles had turned white.
Julian was in the main hall. I’d seen him from the kitchen window. He hadn't been walking like a man looking for a lost coin or a stray dog. He’d been walking with a predator’s stride. His head high, shoulders back, clutching something in his hand that caught the morning light.
A glint of silver necklace shaped as a crescent moon.
"He has it," I choked out, my voice sounding lik
