The rise and fall motion beneath her startled her at first as she tried to focus on breathing in rhythm with it.
When she stepped, she breathed, stepped, breathed, and so it continued. Thankfully, the ride was calm and slow, allowing her to adapt quickly to the movement and the slap of the weather.
Lucrezia knew, without the slightest doubt, that their pace had gentled because of her. The realization stirred a quiet gratitude within her chest but it was laced with something heavier; a familiar ache, like a quiet feeling, a weight others adjusted themselves to carry.
Eventually, they passed through the rear gate and onto a descending road that curved toward the lower district of Blackvale. For the first time, Lucrezia actually saw beyond the walls of the palace, and how magnificent it was without marble or decree.
