ROME
Winter was coming.
The wind that lashed against the palace walls carried the promise of it. The sky had turned a pale gray over the past week, and the air smelled of frost even before the first snow had fallen.
Yet she still was not by my side.
I had done everything in my power to remain controlled. I had attended every meeting without delay. I had signed every decree after a thorough review. I had reopened cases that had rotted under complacency and dragged corruption into the light with steady hands. I had listened to complaints from nobles who trembled at my scrutiny and from citizens who demanded justice with fire in their eyes.
I had done everything as usual.
But it still felt as though something inside me was broken beyond repair.
It felt as if I were living another man’
