Chapter 29: Blood and Banishment
The next morning arrived cloaked in a veil of gray mist. The sky above the palace was pale, sunless an omen, perhaps, or a warning. I stood by the window, wrapped in a robe that still smelled like him. Lucien lay asleep in the bed behind me, one arm sprawled over the empty space where I’d been.
For a few blissful hours, I had known peace. I had tasted what it meant to be his not just by the bond, but by choice.
But peace was never meant to last in a kingdom built on blood.
A knock shattered the stillness.
Zara entered before I answered, her face taut. “You need to see this.”
Lucien stirred behind me. “What is it?”
She didn’t answer. Just held out a sealed scroll—thick parchment, the wax crest unfamiliar. When I broke it open, I didn’t recognize the h
