Enzo's POV
The castle walls had always felt like a cage to me. Too grand, too heavy with history, too steeped in power I couldn't touch. After everything that happened the blood, the fire, the screams echoing in the halls I couldn't breathe inside those walls anymore. My father was gone, buried beneath rage and vengeance, and the weight of his shadow no longer loomed over me. For the first time in months there was nothing holding me back from stepping out into the world again.
When I told Alaric I wanted to return to my apartment, he didn't argue. His eyes lingered on me for a long moment, unreadable, before he simply said, "Then I'll take you."
And he did.
