Four Days Later:
Four days changed everything in the kingdom.
The sun still rose in the same indifferent way every morning, but Aire had begun to disappear inside it.
She still existed in the corridors when required. She still responded when spoken to. She still appeared when summoned but she no longer belonged to the rhythm of the castle.
She now spent most times in the most quiet part of the gardens and then, she lingered near windows.
Now she moved only when necessary, and even then it felt like everything in her had been carefully shut away.
.....
That evening, rain pressed softly against her chamber windows. The sound was steady, persistent, almost comforting in a way Aire no longer trusted.
She sat near the edge of her bed, with a book open in her lap. She had not turned a page in the book for nearly an hour.
