Ara's POV
Aurelia filed out without protest. Sailas lingered, tossing over his shoulder, “Don’t scare her off, Mother. She’s already halfway to the border.”
The tent flap fell shut behind them and the silence followed.
My pulse hammered. Why was I nervous? Because she was the woman Damon called mother—or because she might be the one who’d tried to destroy him?
Seraphina’s gaze raked over me like a blade. "A princess should not look like this."
“I'm sorry?” I stiffened. I didn't understand her point clearly. Was it the borrowed clothes? The blood still smeared on my skin? Or the hollows under my eyes that no amount of sleep could fill?
"Your eyes are dead. Your face is ghost-pale. You’re swimming in Damon’s rags, and your bones might snap if the wind blows too hard." Her vo
