Daya trembled, torn between duty and survival.
"My mother…" she whispered.
"She will be cared for," Vanda said firmly. "But you will not last another night in Arven. Rosa will never stop."
Her tears fell silently. Leaving meant abandoning everything she had ever known. But staying meant death.
At last, she nodded, her voice breaking. "I… I will go."
For the first time, Vanda allowed himself to breathe.
But in Rosa's chamber, fury consumed her. "If he dares take her," she hissed, "I will bring war to his very palace."