The Empty Fortress

Vivienne’s POV

When Valentin asked if I wanted to go with him for lunch, I half expected it to be code for something entirely different, another secret waiting to claw its way out into the open. After the morning I had just survived, “lunch” sounded far too ordinary. With him, ordinary never quite meant what it was supposed to.

That was why, when our car finally slowed to a stop and I glanced out