ALEXANDER
By the time I got back to our chambers, I had already replayed the conversation twice in my head.
None of it sat right.
Not her tone.
Not her words.
And definitely not the look on her face as she ran off.
I pushed the door open without knocking.
It wasn’t locked.
That alone told me she was inside.
The room was quiet.
My eyes moved quickly across the space—nothing out of place, nothing broken, nothing disturbed. For a brief second, it almost felt like I had imagined the entire thing. Like she had left me in the office in that state, and somehow, between there and here, everything had just… settled.
I stepped further in.
“Faye?”
No answer.
But I could smell her.
Faint.
Fresh.
She was here.
My jaw tightened slightly as I moved forward.
“Faye,” I called again, a li
