Not long after, a courier arrived with a note. It read: Liora, return to the estate on your own. I have urgent matters to handle within the family.
In earlier days, I would have sent a frantic message through our network, demanding he come for me, begging for his company. Now, such words felt hollow—wasted breath fading in the night air. I replied simply, Very well.
I left the clinic grounds and hired a carriage back to the estate. As we passed the river bend, I caught sight of Darian’s horse tied near the old oak, inexplicably waiting. Strange—had he not claimed he couldn’t escort me?
When I reached the estate, a notice pinned in the hall caught my eye. Selara had tagged him in her message: “Just a mild fever, yet he insisted on bringing me to the doctor and has stayed by my side ever since. After everything, you’re still my truest protector.”
Selara Davis—his childhood ally. Years ago, she left our territory to marry a wealthy lord in the mountains. Last winter, fortune turned against her; her husband ruined, the marriage dissolved, and she returned with a young child.