Senna brought Helsa to the tower before first light.
Aria hadn’t slept. She rarely did anymore, and she’d stopped pretending otherwise. She’d been up since three hair combed, dressed in the dark grey she wore on the slope, two chairs set at the small table by the window. The candle stayed unlit. She didn’t want Helsa seeing her face too clearly. Didn’t want to see Helsa’s either. The grey seeping through the narrow window would be enough.
Senna opened the door, stepped aside, and let Helsa walk in alone. No chains. No guard.
“I’ll be on the stairs,” Senna said.
The door closed.
Helsa stopped just inside. She didn’t come further. Her hair was brushed, her face scrubbed clean, and she wore a plain grey dress that wasn’t hers one of the spares Senna gave to women in the kingdom who had n
