He smiled. "Just walk with me," he said, and gestured toward the open gate where nearly a dozen guards awaited them. Overkill much?
As they stepped out of the palace, Ava instinctively placed a protective hand on her stomach. It had become second nature. She wasn't even showing yet, but that didn't stop the mother-bear instincts from kicking in every time someone coughed within ten feet of her.
Outside, the sun was brighter. The kingdom stretched before her.
Ava's brows furrowed. Nothing about this land felt like home. It wasn't just unfamiliar, it felt wrong!
Her gaze drifted to the horizon, searching for something she could name. And suddenly, like sunlight cracking through fog, memories trickled in. Not of this place, but of another. Somewhere with towering stone walls and green hills. Somewhere loud. A fortress housing a castle. A home.
