The nights grew longer, and the shadows deeper, as Nia continued her cold, calculated routine. She moved through the palace with precision, no longer allowing herself to dwell on the tangled emotions Ash's presence stirred within her. Every time she found herself near him, the knot in her chest tightened. But she refused to loosen her grip. She couldn't. The path she had chosen was set, and nothing—not even the lingering traces of the past—could pull her away from it.
Still, every evening as she prepared his bath, she would glance at him, her heart betraying her. Ash was different now, though the boy she once knew still lingered beneath the surface of the weapon he had become. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape the growing sense of inevitability—the pull between them wa
