Verona exhaled slowly through her nose, counting the breath like Ardine had taught her, trying to smooth the tightness coiled beneath her ribs. You're fine, she told herself, again. You're safe. You're not there anymore. But the feeling didn't listen.
Brielle noticed, of course..
"Is everything alright, My Lady?" she asked quietly, leaning in under the pretense of examining embroidered ribbons. "You keep glancing back. Like you expect someone to jump out and shout your name."
Verona huffed a small, embarrassed sound. "Do I?"
"Yes. Repeatedly. It's very distinctive." Brielle paused, then softened. "Are you not feeling well perhaps?"
For a moment, Verona considered brushing it off but the words slipped out before she could cork them. "I feel like I'm being watched."
There. Said. Ugly and irrational once it left her mouth.
Brielle stiffened instantly. Her fingers tightened around the ribbon spool. "Watched as in watched watched?"
