Wind sang through the tower, hollow and brisk. But then footsteps crunched in hay, and Manon sat down beside her. Yet Aelin did not speak again, and asked no more questions. And Manon, realizing it, let her shoulders curve inward, let her head bow. As she might never do with anyone else. As no one else might understand—the weight they both bore. In silence, the two queens stared toward the decimated field. Toward the future beyond it.
