Chapter 173

The night was calm.

For once, the manor was quiet—no messengers running through the halls, no warriors calling for strategy, no anxious whispers rising from the courtyards below.

Only the soft crackle of firewood in the hearth filled the living room where Dante and I sat together.

I curled into the couch, my legs tucked beneath me, a book lying forgotten on my lap.

Dante sat across from me, loun