Maren's Farewell

Sophia's POV

She asked me to come to her.

Not a summons. A request — quiet, personal, through a message that said only: When you have a moment. No hurry. I am here.

I came the same afternoon.

Maren's chambers were at the Elder wing's far end, overlooking the north garden. She was in the chair by the window when I arrived, and I saw immediately, in the way you see things when you know someone well and have been choosing not to fully see them, that she was diminished. Not ...