Esther’s POV
The moon hung low over the palace courtyard, pale and thin as if it too had been hollowed out by truth.
I hadn’t slept in days. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Carl’s face in that hospital bed, the IV line glowing red with Nicholas’s blood, a thread connecting them that could never be cut again.
Now there was nothing left to hide behind. No lies. No walls. Only truth, raw and sharp as broken glass.
When Nicholas’s messenger summoned me to his study, I almost didn’t go. My heart was a drumbeat of dread in my chest, but Sharon stirred faintly, urging me forward.
He deserves to know everything.
The door creaked open at my push. Nicholas stood near the hearth, firelight playing over his face, gilding his scars in bronze and shadow. He didn’t turn at first, only said quiet
