Rissa’s POV

The east wing looked different in the daylight.

Morning light stretched long across the floorboards, pale and cold. It should have felt like relief after the night we’d just had, but it didn’t. The brightness didn’t chase away the fear—it sharpened it. What had been hidden in shadow was now laid bare, but not in a way that soothed. If anything, it felt like the light had stripped the place of something, leaving it hollow.

The corridor seemed emptier than it had hours ...