Alexander
Morning light spilled across my desk as I sifted through paperwork, the steam from my untouched coffee curling upward like a silent reproach. I hadn’t slept in my room last night, frustration had driven me elsewhere.
Or rather, Victoria had.
Her behavior these past days gnawed at me. The distance in her eyes, the clipped tone, the stubborn fire whenever we spoke… all of it made me wonder what she was hiding. Or worse, whether she simply no longer needed me now that her father had entrusted her with the family heirloom.
I exhaled sharply and set the documents aside.
Today was the day she would leave the duchy.
I hadn’t stopped her, not because I wanted her gone, but because some part of me believed space would clear the storm between us. But if I was honest, there was somet
