The soft morning light streamed in through Emerald's balcony doors, casting a warm glow on the edges of her curtains. She sat at her dressing table, her hair half-pinned up and a ribbon hanging loosely between her fingers.
The estate was alive with activity as everyone got ready for the festival. You could hear laughter, the sound of glasses clinking, and the rush of footsteps in the hallways.
She should have been thinking about the day ahead. About her speech, the celebrations, and the merchants arriving from half a dozen territories. Instead, her mind kept circling back to one man.
Ares.
His voice still lingered in her head from the night before. 'I'd die before hurting you.'
She'd wanted to take it as comfort. But then he'd followed it with the kind of silence that made her blood run cold. The kind of silence that told her there were entire chapters of this "curse" story she hadn't been given.
