Chapter 22 - The Morning After (revised)

The garden smelled of jasmine and wet earth the moment I stepped outside, the kind of heavy sweetness that clings to your throat and makes you remember every breath you ever took in a place like this. I had chosen the hour just after dusk when the torches were lit but the sky still held a bruise of purple, because I knew the light would catch on the princes' faces in ways that revealed more than words ever could. Aiden's jaw would tighten into that marble line, Blake's smirk would sharpen like a blade left too long in the sun, and Caleb's scars would look deeper, almost accusing. I needed them all to see each other seeing me. That was the first rule of what I was building.