The carriage was too quiet.
Not peaceful.
There was a difference.
Peaceful silence was warm.
Comfortable.
The kind that encouraged sleep.
This silence felt suspicious.
I sat on one side of the carriage with Dream Haven resting comfortably against the window.
Penelope sat across from me.
Straight posture.
Hands folded over her lap.
Perfectly calm expression.
She had been like that since we left the estate.
Too calm.
I narrowed my eyes.
She noticed immediately.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Her eyebrow rose.
Apparently everyone in my life hated that answer when I used it.
Interesting.
I looked outside.
The Vortex territory moved past the carriage window.
Wide stone roads.
Shops.
Carriages.
People.
Too many people.
I had spent years at the border surrounded by soldiers, tents, mud, wounded men, and the occasional attempted assassination.
Somehow this was louder.
Cities were unnecessarily energetic.
"So."
Penelope spoke.
I looked back at her.
"So?"
