I buried myself in work as soon as I arrived. Security reports from the southern route. Inventory numbers from the port. Accounts waiting for approval. Signatures, ledgers, shipments, coded messages. I kept my hands busy so my thoughts would stay quiet.
For the most part, they did.
Then, just before noon, word came that the consigliere wanted to see me.
I knew why before I even stepped into his office.
The post in Drelantia had already been offered to me twice.
It was no punishment, no exile. It was one of the family’s most difficult assignments—overseeing business and negotiations at the eastern border, where several syndicates crossed paths and every deal came wrapped in risk. Anyone who handled Drelantia well came back with influence, respect, and a seat much closer to power.
I had turned it down before.
Both times for the same reason.
My life was here.
And once, that had been true.
Cassian had already announced our engagement before the families. Once we were married, there would be joint responsibilities, formal appearances, a household of our own, maybe even children. I had imagined that future so many times that I never noticed how much of myself I was giving away to protect it.
The consigliere looked up when I entered.
“Have you truly decided against Drelantia?” he asked. “This is the last time I’ll put your name forward.”
I said nothing at first.
Sunlight fell in long slants across his desk, over stacks of files, sealed envelopes, and one folder set apart from the rest.
Mine.
Inside were the transfer papers, already prepared.
Two years.
That was all.
Not long in the grand scheme of things.
But long enough to become someone else.
Cassian had never wanted me to leave the city. He said people in our world should stay close to the ones they loved. He said distance created weakness. Back then, I had mistaken those words for devotion.
Now I understood them for what they were.
He wanted me close only when it was convenient.
In that quiet office, I saw it all at once.
I had refused postings for him.
Turned down advancement for him.
Rearranged my schedule for him.
Gone home early to have dinner waiting for him, to be available when he wanted me, to make my life fit neatly around his.
I had bent everything around Cassian Ashbourne.
And in the end, none of it had been enough to make him choose me.
The thought brought no tears.
Only a deep, terrifying stillness.
“I’ll go,” I said.