The Midnight Sparring

By the end of her second week in the High Tower, Clara felt as though the nightmare of her past had dissolved into a half-remembered shadow. Under Valerius’s personal care, her frail body had grown strong, nourished by royal feasts and herbal cordials prepared by the palace physicians. The pale, frightened scullery girl was gone; in her place was a radiant young woman whose silver-blonde hair shone like fresh moonlight,…