Nikolai

The library was dark when I found her.

I had been searching for hours, my feet carrying me through the corridors, my heart pounding with a fear I couldn't name. She hadn't come to dinner. Hadn't answered my mindlink. Hadn't been in her chambers or the garden or any of the places she usually sought solace.

And then I felt it—a faint pulse through the bond, weak and uncertain, like a heartbeat struggling to find its rhythm. I followed it to the library, my steps quick and urgent, and ...