Chapter 279
Felix
I finally breathe after she's left.
The air rushes back into my lungs in a ragged, desperate gasp, as if I've been held underwater.
I stand, my legs unsteady. The stack of parchments blurs into a meaningless grey block. I won't be able to work again tonight.
I leave the office. Velesia is at her post, a statue in the dim torchlight. She bows slightly, a perfect, mechanical incline of her head. I barely acknowledge her, my mind a thousand leagues away, already trudging the lonely path to my chambers.
***
Edith
It took two weeks of constant asking. A wife's gentle probing, a queen's subtle inquiries. I may have had to threaten his shadow, the snake to finally get some information.
The Duke of Panthers had paid him a visit. And after more pressure, drawn from my own rising panic, he confessed the rest.
A request. An order really.
