#Chapter 154 – One Way or Another

Ronan The garden alcove was one of the few quiet corners left in the palace. Hidden behind high hedges and pale trellises, it was meant for peace. A place for Lunas to sip tea, read letters, maybe breathe in silence for a while. But when I found Lila there, it didn’t look like she’d found any peace at all. She sat on the stone bench, hunched forward. The shawl draped around her shoulders had slipped halfway down her arms, pooling in her lap as if she no longer cared whether it kept her warm. Her fingers trembled against the rough edge of the bench, pale knuckles stark against the weathered stone. Two guards stood a few paces away, posted just inside the garden arch; silent, still, but watchful. Their presence was supposed to protect her. All it did was remind me, and Lila, she was a prisoner here. I approached slowly, boots crunching against the gravel path. Lila’s gaze was fixed on the rosebush opposite her: thorned and bare, winter having stripped it of any blooms.