Morning came quietly to Nacrifa.
Not with bells or proclamations, but with a thin, pale light slipping through the clouds and touching the stone towers of the palace as though afraid to disturb them. The city had learned restraint these past days. Even dawn seemed hesitant now.
Aliena awoke before the sun fully rose.
For a moment, she lay still, listening.
There were no shouts in the corridors. No hurried footsteps of guards rushing past her door. No sharp clang of steel echoing from the courtyards below.
The silence felt… different.
She sat up slowly, her fingers curling into the sheets as awareness settled in. Something had changed. She could feel it, not as a thought, but as the absence of pressure, like a hand that had finally withdrawn from her chest.
She rose and crossed the room, barefoot against the cold stone floor, pushing open the shutters.
