After the Councilman left, the house was silent again.
The wind tapped softly at the windows, as if trying to remind her of the world outside, but Belle barely noticed. Her legs felt like air as she rose from where she'd been kneeling and slowly made her way through the hallway, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle as though trying to keep herself from shattering.
The two guards left behind stood stiffly near the front door. She had told them she needed no protection and that she would hire bodyguards herself, but if they heard her displeasure at having strange men inside her house, they paid no heed to her after they told her it was an order from the Councilman to stay and protect her.
