Serenya
My room was becoming more like a prison than a safe place to me. What was privacy? When Maelis can barge in and out however she wants?
The garden was silent except for the hush of the evening wind through the hibiscus shrubs and rows of trimmed boxwood hedges. Lantern lights along the cobbled path flickered to life one by one, their golden glow trembling in the breeze like timid fireflies.
I sat on the stone bench near the far edge, behind a tall flowering trellis where no one could see me. My knees were pulled up to my chest, chin resting against them as I stared at the darkening sky, streaked with deep pink and the last bruised violets of twilight.
It was stupid to cry outside. Anyone could walk past. But my room felt suffocating. Even the scent of vanilla from my scented can
