~LENORA'S POV
"It is already decided, I'm telling you."
"You're lying."
"I'm not. My cousin works in the upper wing. The vampire princess is going to become our queen."
"She is getting married to who? High Lord Alaric?"
"Yes. They say it is because of the war."
I kept walking, trying to ward out the conversation, but the words followed me anyway.
Rumors had been moving through the palace since morning, slipping between doors and trays and half-closed conversations that stopped the second anyone important came near.
I hadn't meant to listen at first. I hadn't even believed it when I heard the first whisper.
Now it was everywhere.
"The alliance had to happen."
"They say the Shadow Covenant is getting stronger."
"They say he agreed during court yesterday."
My hands tightened around the folded sheets I was carrying. I forced myself to loosen my grip before the fabric creased.
