The palace was quiet at night.
The stone corridors glimmered faintly under the torchlight, shadows stretching long and thin across the marble floor. She walked softly, the hem of her servant’s dress whispering against the tiles. She shouldn’t have been here at this hour. But when the princess summoned, no one refused.
Her heart pounded with each step. The air near the royal wing always felt different, thicker somehow. At the end of the hallway, the double doors to the princess’s chamber stood slightly ajar, light spilling out from within.
She pushed gently.
The princess was sitting by her vanity, hair loose and shining under the glow of the lanterns. Her silk robe clung to her skin, pale legs crossed, a glass of something golden in her hand. She looked up when the door creaked, a slow
