Chapter 22: The Door at the End of the Wing I
Lyria's POV
I returned to the palace with my head lowered and my steps measured, as though I were nothing more than a shadow drifting back to its assigned corner.
The encounter by the lake still lingered in my thoughts in faint, unsteady fragments—the Duke of Blackmere's careless ease, Lucian's sharp and unsettling gaze. I did not understand why he had even tried to get me to call him by his name.
He did not even apologize to me for everything he had done in the past, but was instead insistent on me calling him by his given name, which was not done—especially given the fact that I was nothing but a shadow in the palace. A princess by birth, but an illegitimate one who did not have any weight.
One whose name was not even recognized by the people of the kingdom. I shook my head, choosing not to dwell on the encounter.
I could not afford to, after all.
