Lila
I’d thought walking might help, moving instead of sitting alone in that suffocating room. But everywhere felt the same with guards glued to me every step of the way.
Even wrapped in a shawl, I couldn’t shake the cold. I couldn’t stop shaking, period.
The palace should have been comforting with its soft carpets and sunlight spilling in through tall windows, but everything felt too small, too confining.
After wandering a short while, I turned a corner, drawn by faint voices echoing ahead.
Two servants stood just beyond the archway of the next hall, heads bent together, voices pitched low. Their aprons were dusted with flour; they must have slipped out from the kitchens.
“…saw the papers myself,” one whispered, her voice quick, urgent.
“…can’t believe he’d marry Elena. Not after
