Chloe’s pov
I pulled my thin wool shawl tighter around my shoulders, but the soaked fabric clung cold and heavy against my skin.
The heavy rain had been hammering down on the lower courtyard since noon, turning the gravel paths into streams of mud. I had spent the last hour in the lower storerooms with Jessica, sorting winter blankets and verifying pantry logs. I could have taken the indoor servants' corridor back to the east wing, but I needed the air. I needed the stinging cold against my face to clear the lingering haze of heartbreak that had hung over me.
My wet leather boots squelched against the flooded stone as I rounded the sharp corner near the arched passageway.
I didn't see the slick patch of black moss coating the wet stone.
My heel skidded across the surface, and my foot
