POV: Kaelira
The guard did not wait for permission before he spoke again.
"Your Majesty, your gates report visitors demanding entry."
Ronan was already moving, and I stood with him without thinking, my hand still loosely caught in his sleeve.
"At this hour," Ronan said. "Who?"
The guard hesitated, and that hesitation alone made my stomach tighten before he even said the name.
"Lord Vale and Lady Marissa," he said. "They say it concerns Lady Kaelira directly, and they are refusing to leave the gate until they are seen."
I felt the warmth that had been sitting in my chest all evening drain out of me in one long breath.
"That is not possible," I said. "They have no reason to come here."
"They claim urgent family business," the guard said.
"They have never once cared about family bus
