LIORA’S POV
I heard her before I saw her.
The soft crunch of deliberate footsteps through the underbrush, unhurried and elegant even in the middle of a forest. I turned, and my breath caught.
Lady Selene stood between the trees dressed in deep red, the color of wine and winter roses. The gown moved with her like something alive, and even here, far from the palace and its polished halls, she looked astonishing. Like she had been carved out of a different world and placed gently into this one.
“You look beautiful,” I said before I could stop myself.
Selene’s eyes found mine, unreadable as ever. “You almost died.”
The words were flat. Not cruel, not warm. Simply stated, the way one might observe a change in weather.
“I know,” I said carefully. “Was it a mistake?”
“No,” she said.
Sele
