Chapter 68

• Rose's POV
• I turned slowly, schooling my features into a practiced smile, the kind that didn’t quite touch my eyes. “Elder Freya,” I said, as though I had only just noticed her arrival, as though her presence hadn’t already set my pulse into a frantic rhythm.
• She closed the distance between us with the steady authority of someone who had no need to rush, her steps measured, her gaze sharp enough to strip me bare. She returned my greeting with the faintest nod, then repeated with firm finality, “We need to talk.”