Chapter 26 - Jealous flames

The palace never truly sleeps. Even at three in the morning, when the corridors should be empty, you can hear it breathing: distant footsteps of night patrols, the soft scrape of a servant's broom against marble, the occasional creak of old wood settling like an old man complaining about his joints. I had not slept after Aiden left. He had slipped out just before dawn, kissing my forehead with the careful tenderness of someone who knows he might not come back the same way next time. I stayed in bed, sheets still warm from his body, staring at the ceiling until the first gray light crept through the curtains.