MAXIMUS’S POV

The silence in my office was unbearable.

It pressed down on me like a weight, heavy and suffocating, wrapping around every thought that tried to crawl out of my head. I’d been here since I returned to the palace—door locked, curtains drawn, fire out.

I didn’t want to feel.

I didn’t want to think.

I just wanted to be numb.

The desk in front of me was covered in papers, most of them reports I hadn’t touched. My throne-like chair sat behind it, cold, unwelcoming. I didn’t sit there. I sat on the edge of the couch instead, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor like it...