Chapter 54 A Cruel Family

• [XENA]
• My heart still feels bruised from the way Knox spoke to me earlier, clipped and distant, as if I’d crossed a line without knowing where it was drawn, and the ache hasn’t quite settled by the time raised voices carry through the corridor outside my door.
• Astrid is already awake. She’s helping me fasten the simple dress I chose from the ones I brought along with me, her fingers fumbling slightly as she works, when I mention—too casually—that the prince asked me to have breakfast with him.