I did not leave the room the next morning.

Light moved slowly across the floor. I sat on the edge of the bed, then the chair, then the window seat, unable to settle. The scarf was gone from the wrist, but I could still feel the ghost of it around my wrists. Every footstep in the hallway made my shoulders tighten.

Was he going to come back?

A servant knocked mid-morning and left a tray outside the door when I did not answer. Eventually I brought it in, ate without tasting anything, and set the empty plate back in the hall. I locked the door again.

The day stretched. I...