Chapter 6

Maeve’s POV

The halls stretched empty, yet eyes burrowed into my spine like daggers.

I quickened my pace, wedding silk hissing against marble as I whipped around the next corner. Nothing. Still, something hunted me—a presence, thick and writhing in the darkness, stealing the oxygen from my lungs.

I froze, spun.

Nothing but shadows.

My heart slammed against my ribs like it might shatter them.

Then—movement.

A woman materialized from darkness—taller than me, draped in storm-cloud gray, with hair like spilled ink flowing past a midnight cloak. Her presence crushed the air from the corridor. Wrong. Ancient.

“Forgive the intrusion,” she whispered, voice like velvet over steel.

I’d have remembered her from the ceremony. Those eyes—depthless and knowing—would have haunted me already.

“I watched you flee,” she continued, lips barely moving. “Such a waste, to celebrate without the guest of honor.”

My throat constricted.