>>Aelin
There was so much I wanted to say to her.
But the words stayed trapped behind my ribs, pressed there by the weight of everything I wasn't ready to share—about myself, about Draegon, about the daughter I'd never known but had dreamed of so vividly that it sometimes felt like grief had teeth.
Seraphine sat quietly, the pale light from the high windows catching her hair, her eyes never leaving mine. I'd thought coming here would feel strange, intrusive even.
But it didn't.
It felt like home.
Or the shadow of what one could've been.
My emotions swirled, quiet and deep, but I locked them down tight as always. Letting them rise now would undo me, and I couldn't afford that
She didn't press me.
Seraphine simply held my hand for a few more heartbeats, then gently released it as the sound of soft hooves approached.
The three sheep demons closed in on us, quiet as always, their heads lowered in deference. One of them stepped forward and gave me a small bow.
