The palace had a way of noticing change.

Not openly. Not immediately. But like a stone that remembers pressure, the corridors seemed to hold echoes: of footsteps that lingered, of glances that stayed too long, of whispers that stopped as Callie passed.

She felt it the moment she entered the lower hall that morning.

The other servants were quieter around her. Not respectful—no, that would have been easier—but attentive. Measuring. As if trying to comprehend a change they hadn't been invited t