Mary Ann’s POV
By morning, there were eight guards outside our residence.
Eight.
Not assigned to protect me.
Assigned to make sure I did not leave the capital.
I stood at the window and watched them take their positions beneath the stone archway while anger slowly built inside me.
The order Magnus signed remained on the table behind me.
Territorial restriction pending judgment.
Such clean language.
Such ugly meaning.
I was not under arrest.
I had not been charged with violence.
I had not tried to flee.
Yet somehow I was forbidden from returning to Nightveil, Ironclaw, or Mooncrest.
A legal cage was still a cage.
Modric entered from the adjoining room already dressed.
His expression told me he had seen the guards too.
“Kylian counted eight.”
“I counted them myself.”
“Two
