I stared at the ceiling long after Finn had stormed from the room.
My body lay stiff on the bed, but inside I was unraveling. Tears streamed hot and unchecked down my temples, pooling into the furs beneath me.
I couldn't move. I couldn't even think. Every breath rasped in and out like a struggle, my chest aching as though my heart had cracked under the weight of it all.
I don't know how many minutes passed, maybe longer, before the door creaked open again.
My heart lurched, terror seizing me that he had come back. But it wasn't Finn.
A maid stepped inside. She kept her gaze low, her movements brisk.
Without a word, she took me by the arm, lifting me carefully from the bed. My body felt like glass in her grip, brittle and thin, but I didn't resist. I had no fight left.
She guided me silently through the dim hallways, back to the room I was given since being brought into the manor. The door clicked shut behind me, and I was alone again.
