Chapter 123

• Allesio’s POV
• The air between us was heavier than it had ever been. I could feel her warmth next to me, the way her fingers brushed against mine as we sat together in the quiet corner of her room. We’d just returned from her spot in the countryside, and though she seemed at ease, I was anything but.
• Every time she looked at me, I felt a little piece of my resolve crack. Her trust, fragile and tentative, had started to grow. And for the first time, I didn’t know if I wanted to keep chipping away at it for Alaric’s sake—or if I wanted to protect it, selfishly, for my own.