Jennifer’s Pov

The distance between us had grown quietly.

Christian still touched me. He still kissed my forehead before leaving in the mornings and pulled me against him at night. But something had changed. There were more closed-door meetings. More moments where his attention drifted even while he was looking at me. When I asked questions, his answers remained short. He was protecting me again by keeping me at arm’s length, and I was tired of feeling the wall he kept building.

That was why I went to the library.

I told myself I only wanted something to read. The castle library was large and rarely used by anyone except...