Catherine stepped closer without realizing she had moved.
Her hand lifted, reaching for Sebastian as if guided by instinct rather than thought.
Sebastian.
Her knight.
He had stood beside her when Bernice first brought word of the King of Velmont's offer—when the world shifted beneath her feet and destiny demanded its price. When Bernice chose to follow her into an unknown land, Sebastian followed too, without question, without hesitation.
He had been there through every march, every loss, every sleepless night spent wondering who could still be trusted.
There had never been romance between them. Never desire.
Only loyalty—pure, unshakeable. The kind forged between a queen and the man who would die for her without ever asking for anything in return.
When everything else was stripped away, Sebastian became her certainty. Her shield. Her anchor.
Until that day.
The day she died.
