Chapter Fourteen-Point-Five — The Echo of Choice --- Bound by Dark Series by E.Kane
The Empress woke before dawn. She did not know what had disturbed her. There had been no messenger. No alarm. No disruption in the wards surrounding the Court. And yet the vow-mark at her wrist pulsed faintly with quiet insistence. Not pain. Not warning. Presence. She sat upright slowly, letting the silence of her chamber settle around her. The high windows revealed a city still wrapped in darkness. Lanterns flickered along the distant streets, and somewhere below the palace a patrol changed shifts. Everything appeared calm. Which meant something had changed. She rose from the bed and crossed the chamber barefoot, the cool stone grounding her thoughts. The vow pulsed again. Nyx. Not in danger. Not injured. But… challenged. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment of stillness. Distance had sharpened the connection between them in ways she had not expected. It was no longer a constant presence. Instead, it arrived in subtle impressions, fragments of awareness carried along...
