The Next Day
Cassandra’s POV
The morning sun peeked through the curtains, but it did nothing to lift the heaviness in my chest. I sat on the edge of the bed with the baby in my arms, rocking her gently while she slept. The palace nannies moved quietly around the room, doing what they could, but the silence in my heart was louder than their footsteps.
Amy and Kael had given me everything I needed...security, comfort, safety...but all of it still felt like a cage of emptiness. I had nannies, guards, doctors on call, yet at night I lay awake listening to the echo of my own loneliness.
Sometimes I wished… no, I ached for someone to sit beside me. To talk to me. To hold my hand. To tell me I wasn’t alone in this new life I never asked for.
I pressed a kiss on the baby’s forehead and whispe
