Nina didn't know when she fell asleep.
One moment she was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the door, and the next the morning light was bright against her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open.
She sat up fast, her head turning to her side.
The pillow beside her was undisturbed, the bed on the other side still straightened like no one had touched it. Nina stared at it for a second, then got up and went to the window and pushed it open.
The noise hit her before anything else.
Below, the servants were moving, clearing the courtyard of the rubble of the previous night.
Nina's blood went cold as her eyes fell on two servants carrying a dead body on a stretcher. His neck was mangled, his face bloody.
A woman ran up to them, and when her eyes fell on the body she dropped to the ground, her scream loud in the quiet.
