THE FEAR OF LOVE The warmth in my chest felt like a lie.

As the door clicked shut behind Esmeralda, the silence of the room rushed back in, but it wasn't the same silence as before. It was heavy. It was loud. I stood in the center of the floor, my hands trembling. For the first time in months, my side didn't ache. My lungs didn't burn when I took a breath.

But as I looked at the maps on my desk, I didn't feel like a King who had been saved. I felt like a man who had just signed a death ...