"Your Majesty...! I believe it is time for you to awaken."
The soft, trembling voice pierced through the heavy fog consuming Evangeline's mind. She forced her heavy eyelids open, a sharp, throbbing ache instantly flaring behind her temples. The air felt completely different.
Sitting up with a stifled groan, she looked down to find Sia—the maid from the previous night—bowing deeply, her hands trembling as she held a silver basin of cold water.
Evangeline swept her gaze across the room, and her breath caught. The dark velvet drapes, the familiar scent of dried herbs and faint ozone, the layout of the furniture... Damn it. This wasn't her imperial bedchamber.
She had slept in Silver's room.
She stared at her pale hands, her mind racing to piece together the shattered fragments of the previous night. She remembered the assassins, the mirror, Julian's panicked face, and the agonizing shock of seeing Silver's eyes. But after she left Julian's quarters? Nothing. A complete void.
