After a day overflowing with tension, emotion, and countless unspoken words that lingered in the air like smoke refusing to clear, River finally made her way back to her chambers, her steps quiet and thoughtful as she wandered the long corridors of the castle, the dim lights along the walls barely chasing away the weight that clung to her shoulders.
Her thoughts were a jumble, heavy with the visit of her family, the charged dinner with Heiko, the subtle but suffocating pressure of the royal court, and the exhausting strain of maintaining her composure.
By the time she closed the door behind her and pressed her back against it, the silence of her chamber felt almost too loud, her nerves still humming from the effort of smiling when she didn’t want to, of holding herself together when sh
