The quiet of my chambers settled around me the moment the doors closed, sealing away the distant sounds of the castle until nothing remained but stillness.
Night had fully claimed the sky beyond my windows, the last traces of dusk long gone, leaving only darkness softened by the pale glow of moonlight spilling across the floor in silver patterns.
For a while, I remained seated at the edge of my bed, unmoving, as though the weight of the day had yet to decide where to rest. Eventually, I leaned back, lowering myself slowly against the sheets, and only then did everything begin to catch up with me.
Thoughts surfaced uninvited, one after another, threading themselves together into something far more tangled than I cared to untangle tonight.
Lirael. The attack. The voices. The crystal.
