The journey lasted for days.
Lorraine, who had never once stepped beyond the capital walls, looked around in awe. For someone raised among marble corridors and chandeliers, the little villages they passed weren't quite as romantic as she had imagined. The air was thick with dust, the roofs were uneven, and everything smelled faintly of smoke and damp hay.
As much as she wanted to be moved by the sight of her people's lives, she found herself thinking of the city she had left behind — her mansion, her allies, her carefully spun web of influence. Leroy had promised he wouldn't destroy what she had built. Yet here he was, quietly undoing it, one winding dirt path at a time.
