Cassian pov

The doors slammed shut, the final echo of her being dragged away still lingering in the silence like smoke. I didn’t move. I just sat there—alone in the cold emptiness of the throne room, my fingers curled tightly around the edge of the obsidian throne, knuckles white, breath slow. My guards had left, the advisors too. No one dared ask me what I thought.

Because even I wasn’t sure.

Who the hell was she?

I’ve seen beauty before.

All the false, fleeting things ...