Sera's POV
The faded velvet cover of the storybook felt smooth beneath my thumb, the gold lettering worn away by years of my younger self tracing over the raised letters.
It made no sense. None of it.
"How long did it take us to get here from the castle, Gideon?" I asked, my voice sounding distant, almost detached, even to my own ears. "Three hours?"
Gideon stepped up directly behind me, his large, warm hand settling against the small of my back as he looked over my shoulder. "Yeah, just about. Why?"
I stared down at the book, my mind racing backward through time, untangling memories I had locked away in the darkest corners of my chest.
Three hours.
I was running over the exact day my father dragged me out of this house for the very last time. He had come up the stairs, thrown open
