Chapter 266

• Emeriel cleared her throat. “Tell me about you and Lord Vladya. How is his… health?”
• Aekeira brushed her hair, the bristles gliding in gentle strokes from root to tip. “It’s gotten much better. There are still days when things are hard—when his episodes are really bad. The voices in his head grow stronger, and his beast becomes ruthless. But we have learned to navigate those days together, better than before.”
• Her strokes faltered, the brush pausing mid-air as the light in her eyes dimmed. “Even so, those days, though rare, remind me of the inevitable… that he won’t always be here.”