Aria didn’t leave the tower.
She sat against the door with her back pressed to the wood for a long time after the crying stopped. The morning light came through the window, crept across the stone floor, reached her feet, and moved on. She watched it go. For the first hour, she didn’t think at all. She just let her body do what it wanted, which was to stay still and breathe.
When thinking became possible again, she stood up.
She walked to the window. One hand on the cold sill.
She thought.
First about the kingdom. About forty Lycans whose names she was still getting wrong half the time. About Maren’s older mate, who’d stood at the back of the great hall with tears running down his face when she’d taken the Luna’s chair. About Senna, who’d burned one of her own working stones just to ca
