Malric’s Pov

I should have waited until dawn. I should have stayed where I was, cool and distant, the proper distance. Instead I rode back early because the idea of her — Delilah — being in the next room and me not near enough to see her was a thought I could not stand.

The carriage wheels had hardly stilled before everything hummed… servants, the usual bows, that stiff, obedient air. I stepped down and expected the usual: a calm welcome, servants praising the weather, maybe Reyna fussing about nothing. Instead, Reyna barreled toward me like a small hurricane, eyes wide, lips raw from speaking.

“Delilah is missing,” she said,...