LIORA’S POV
The woman stared at me like I’d lost my mind, then turned and walked away without another word.
I stood there in the garden path, my scraped palms stinging, my heart still racing from the chase. Disappointment crashed over me in waves.
It wasn’t her. Of course it wasn’t her.
I didn’t know what to do anymore. Darren was nowhere to be found, gone to escape me. The court ladies had spent the afternoon mocking me. My own servants wanted me dead. And now I was chasing shadows through gardens, desperate for answers I’d never get.
I crouched down, pressing my damaged hands to my face, not caring that I was getting blood on my skin.
“Mama,” I whispered to the air, to the memory of a woman I barely remembered. “What would you do? How would you survive this?”
The wind rustled thro
