Chapter 37 Dreams And Shadows

• It was late when they returned to Mikko’s chambers. The castle had settled into silence, but Espen could still feel the burn of eyes on her back. The weight of Kimberlee’s spite, the whispers in the corridors, the changes that were slowly threading themselves into the walls of her life.
• She washed up in the private bath, the heat loosening tension from her muscles while her mind spun like a wheel on fire. Mikko had let her go without argument tonight, only placing a kiss to her shoulder before disappearing to speak with a few remaining guards. She didn’t know when he returned—only that the bed dipped beside her hours later, and a warm body slid behind hers, curling in close.
• Sleep eventually took her.