The morning light streamed through the classroom windows, but Lori saw none of it.
Her textbook lay open in front of her, the words blurring into meaningless shapes. Her professor's voice drifted across the room, a distant murmur that she couldn't quite grasp. Around her, students scribbled notes, asked questions, engaged in the normal rhythms of academic life.
Lori heard nothing.
Saw nothing.
Her mind was elsewhere.
Two reasons. Two overwhelming, consuming reasons why she could barely focus on anything except the frantic beating of her heart.
First: tomorrow.
Tomorrow, she would travel to the royal castle.
The thought sent a thrill through her chest that made her breath catch. The royal castle. Where kings and queens and princesses walked ancient halls. Where Iva would become the
