Richard
I couldn't sleep that night after I locked the pendant scan away. If I did, it was only in shallow fits, chased by dreams I couldn’t fully remember but woke from with my pulse climbing and a tightness in my chest that didn’t release until well after sunrise.
It wasn’t fear exactly, but something adjacent to it, an unease that pressed against my ribs and settled behind my sternum, lingering even as I forced myself into motion.
The palace was already awake when I stepped into Nathan’s wing. He was finishing a call, nodding as he jotted something on a tablet. When he looked up, he didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He never did when I showed up unannounced like this, especially with that look I hadn’t even realized I was wearing.
“You want more compartmentalization?”
“I want a ne
