The Last Quiet Night

Sophia's POV

We had one evening.

One evening between the intelligence Caspian had delivered and the beginning of the movement that would consume every hour after it — one evening where the castle was still and the fire was burning and the war was still theoretical enough that we could sit in the east garden without it pressing in from all sides.

We sat on the stone bench beside the fountain. The frost roses were still blooming — four of them now, which Elara had taken ...