Chapter 72 : Smelling Fresh
Panic pressed against her ribs like a second heartbeat.
Odi paced the small room barefoot, the cold stone doing nothing to anchor her. She had walked the same crooked line between her cot and the door a dozen times now, whispering to herself, whispering to the silence.
"I can't stay," she muttered. "I can't go. What if someone sees—what if he knows? What if—"
Knock. Knock.
She froze—hand mid-air, breath halfway to a sentence she hadn't even finished thinking. Her heart kicked against her ribs.
Not now.
Another knock, this one sharper. Impatient.
"Odi," came a voice from the other side of the door. A guard. Male. Stern. "The Princess Valerie requests your presence. Now."
Her stomach twisted. Valerie? Now?
She opened her mouth to answer and nearly choked on the dryness of her tongue. "Y-yes," she croaked.
Footsteps retreated. Silence swelled in their absence, thick and pulsing.
