Chapter 64 Again

• I found Aldric in his temporary chambers, surrounded by scattered documents and looking like he hadn't slept in days. The sight of him—hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, eyes shadowed with exhaustion and something deeper—struck me with unexpected concern. Whatever he'd discovered about my heritage, it had shaken him as much as it had me.
• "Seraphina," he said, looking up as I entered without ceremony. "I was just about to come find you."
• "Were you?" I closed the door behind me and activated the privacy wards with a gesture that made him tense. "Or were you planning how to report back to your father about the monster he's about to marry into his family?"