As the dinner dragged on beneath the vaulted ceiling and shimmering chandeliers of the royal dining hall, River sat with her back straight and her expression as composed as she could manage, even though inside her chest a storm was howling, loud and wild and disoriented.
After the small earthquake caused by Queen Lana’s veiled jab and her own unintentionally suggestive reply, the attention surrounding her had, for the moment, lessened. The court’s hawk-like gazes didn’t linger as long, and the rhythm of conversation resumed like a river realigning after a sudden rockfall. Laughter echoed faintly from the far end of the table, forks tapped against porcelain, wine flowed like silk into goblets, and yet River knew, this wasn’t mercy.
They were simply giving her a reprieve. A calculated bre
