Mannerless

Just as Lucian had predicted, the moment the physician left the doomed palace after treating Ave and ensuring that he'd stopped her injured hand from getting worse, he went straight to meet the Empress and reported what had happened.

"You mean to say Selene was badly injured, and the wound looks to be an old one getting infected because it seems she'd hidden it from the prince?" Elara repeated with a frown, and when the middle-aged man nodded, she relaxed in her chair.

Earlier this morning, she'd seen the princesses return early from their practice saying Selene was unwell. It seemed her stupid spy must have gotten it all wrong the other day. The spy had said Lucian exited Selene's chamber in a hurry with bloodstains on his shirt, while Selene had run out after him and stood in the corridor with blood on her palms. She could have pieced it together—that stupid Selene had gotten herself injured, not Lucian.