>>Aelin
It wasn't until I closed the book and stared into the quiet hum of the dark room that I remembered something.
Draegon's mother.
She was no longer locked away in that cursed tower. After all these years, she was finally free.
And I—her daughter-in-law, however newly crowned—hadn't gone to see her.
The realization struck me with a soft pang of guilt, blooming deep in my chest. How many days and nights had I seen that tower? Of the woman who'd been imprisoned long before I ever arrived in this realm, her name never spoken. The tower treated like it had been abandoned.
She was out.
I stood quickly, pushing the heavy blanket from my lap. The chill of the obsidian floor bit into my bare feet as I crossed the room and opened the door.
The halls were mostly empty now, the echoes of the coronation swept away with the last fading notes of music and the flickering torches lining the arches. I moved quietly, unnoticed. I didn't want anyone asking questions I couldn't answer.
