Chapter 178

Bianca

By nightfall, the house no longer felt like a home, it felt like a tomb preparing itself.

Darius’s orders had spread like wildfire, igniting every corridor, every soldier, every whisper. Armor was being fitted. Horses saddled. The forge below glowed red through the night, beating in rhythm with the war that was about to begin.

And in the middle of it all, I moved through the chaos like a ghost.

I smiled when the guards looked. I gave orders when I had to. But inside, every step I took felt like I was walking through the ashes of something that could never be rebuilt.

When I reached the servants’ quarters, I found her waiting, small, thin, and trembling but brave enough to hold my gaze.

Nina.

She’d only been in our service a few months, one of the quiet ones, invisible in the way that kept her alive. But she had sharp eyes and a quicker mind than she let on.

“You sent for me, my lady?” she asked. “I was told to come quietl