It's been a few days since the Staircase Disaster, and the castle's still settling into its new habits. Every time a staircase creaks, I swear it's laughing at me.
So I hide where I always do — in the library. My library.
The air smells faintly of parchment and candle wax. Shelves line every wall, each one crowded with tomes I've copied or created myself. In one corner, tucked behind a curtain of old runes, is my bed — a narrow cot with too many blankets and a stack of books where a pillow should be.
Rowena sits across from me, absorbed in her notes, quill scratching rhythmically. I watch her for a moment longer than I mean to. She's completely focused, hair slipping from its braid, a little crease between her brows when she's thinking.
I look away quickly, heat rising to my face.
Why am I blushing?
Maybe it's the quiet. Maybe it's the way we've spent nearly every day together these last few years — studying, planning, building. She's been my closest friend, the one constant in a world that keeps changing.
In my past life, I was… well, definitely into women. I remember that much. When I woke up here, that part of me was buried under everything else — survival, learning magic, building a school. I never stopped to think about who I was now.
But lately, being around her makes my thoughts stumble.
She glances up suddenly. "You're staring, Sera."
My mouth opens, then closes again. "Sorry. Thinking."
Her smile is soft. "You always are." She dips her quill again, completely unaware of the small storm she's stirred up inside me.
I lean back in my chair, exhaling quietly. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just… comfort. Familiarity. But there's a flutter in my chest I can't explain, a warmth that lingers even when I look away.
Do I even want a relationship? I wonder. I've already rebuilt my life once. I've got a castle to run, a world to reshape…
Still, my eyes drift back to her, to the way the candlelight catches in her hair, to the little smile she makes when she figures something out.
Maybe I don't know what I want yet. But sitting here, surrounded by books and quiet laughter, I know this much—
I don't mind finding out.