#Chapter 56 – The Girl in the Dark

Damon Outside, the courtyard stirred with the usual sounds—guards drilling, candidates murmuring in clipped, polite tones. But in my office, the silence pressed in on me like fog, heavy and muffling. The only sound was the sharp scratch of my pen against parchment as I signed off on trial amendments. It was busywork. Intentional. I hadn’t been able to focus since Elena left. My gaze drifted to the hearth across the room. The embers had long since dimmed to ash, and I hadn’t bothered to relight them. The cold matched the hollow ache in my chest. She’d asked to leave. For her mother, she said. And I granted it without question. Without warmth. Because the moment I saw her in approach—shoulders drawn back but voice cracking—I knew she wasn’t lying about her mother. But I also knew she was lying about something else. I just didn’t know what yet. My wolf hadn’t stopped pacing since she left. Zane didn’t trust easily, and yet the moment we touched her, he’d gone still. Certai