POV: Miranda Prospero

We talked until the moon reached its peak overhead, sharing stories and dreams with the kind of easy intimacy I'd only read about in books.

Ferdinand told me about growing up in a palace that felt more like a prison, surrounded by advisors who saw him as a political asset rather than a person. I shared carefully edited stories about my life in the forest, tending to wounded creatures and learning magic from ancient books Papa had collected over the ...