Georgia had never considered herself brave in the same reckless way that warriors were brave, sometimes courage was simply refusing to turn back.
The faint thread connecting her to Valen pulsed weakly inside her mind like a dying ember, flickering with pain and exhaustion that made Georgia's chest tighten every time she felt it.
"She is still alive," Georgia whispered under her breath, clutching the front of her cloak as she hurried along the narrow passage
that led toward the abandoned lower halls of the palace.
That was the direction her senses had pointed her toward, though the deeper she traveled beneath the grand stone structure above, the colder and darker the air became.
Most servants avoided these tunnels entirely, the torches mounted along the walls were sparse and poorly maintained, leaving large stretches of shadow that seemed almost alive in the silence.
