Amara
The castle breathed.
That was the only way I could describe it—like something ancient stirred beneath the stone floors and marble archways, its slow inhale and exhale echoing through the corridors at night.
I stood barefoot on the balcony overlooking the eastern courtyard, the sky still dark though the stars had begun to fade. A chill clung to the air, and yet I barely felt it. Something tugged at me from deep within the walls.
A hum. A pulse. A rhythm I hadn’t noticed before.
Not quite sound. Not quite magic.
It was just below the surface of my senses, like a song I’d once known but had forgotten how to sing.
Lucian was still asleep when I slipped from the bed hours ago. He’d barely closed his eyes after ordering Daniel locked away in the deepest part of the dungeons. Even in
