_Author’s POV_
Kaelen called three times before he gave up.
He sat in the study with the dead phone in his hand and told himself Virella was probably asleep, that the phone was on silent, that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she wasn’t picking up on a night when he needed to talk to someone and she was the only person left who was supposed to be on his side.
He put the phone down and poured another drink.
The study was quiet, Maelis had gone to bed early. The staff moved through the back parts of the house doing whatever staff did at this hour. The television was off and Kaelen had no interest in turning it on because the last time he’d turned on the television it had shown him Alaric and Rowena walking across a tarmac together and he had thrown his phone
