Valtira.
I stood in the middle of my chambers, unmoving, watching as the maids rushed about with quiet urgency, lifting and carrying every piece of my life from the room. Dresses. Books. Trinkets. Things that had once defined my solitude.
I knew exactly where they were taking them.
Draven’s chambers.
The realization sat strangely in my chest, heavy and unsettled. Why would he want a shared chamber already? If he wished to see me, he could simply come to mine, just as he always had. There was no need for this sudden merging of spaces, of lives, of breath and presence.
Zarek and I—
The thought barely formed before it died in my throat.
Zarek was my past. He belonged to a chapter already written, already sealed. He had betrayed me. He had hurt me in ways that still echoed in the quiet
