Chapter 85. A New Plan

Poppy's POV

The air is thick with the scent of impending rain, and every nerve in my body screams that the world as I know it teeters on the verge of collapse. Heart pounding like a frenzied drum, I slip through the shadowed corridors, my senses heightened to the whispers dancing on the edges of silence.

"James," my voice is a hushed urgency, a thread of desperation woven through it, as I find him hidden away in the dimly lit alcove, his figure shrouded in darkness. His eyes meet mine, twin pools of trepidation that mirror my own fear.

"Poppy," he breathes, the sound barely more than the rustle of leaves in a soft breeze. "We must go- now."

I nod, swallowing the lump of dread lodged in my throat. In the muted light, the contours of his face are drawn tight, a testament to the heavy burden of our shared secret. We are no longer cloaked in the warm embrace of nobility; our status is stripped bare, leaving us vulnerable to Ally