Chapter 25: Kindness

It was the first time anyone in the palace had cared enough to ask why she was crying. This wasn’t the first time she had faced a moment like this, but Basil had never cared about her. His ministers had cared even less and usually went out of their way to embarrass her. Noblewomen often disrespected her without being scolded for it by Basil or anyone who should have been on her side.

She had always had to defend herself; thus, Laura never cried because it was useless to cry. Crying was unbecoming of a luna, and no one cared about her feeling anyway. She had to handle every obstacle, every setback, and every difficulty on her own and with all the grace of her station. She knew that and that in the back of her mind, Laura was trying to pull it together, but it had been so long since she’d been Laura.

She was Laurel now. Hadn’t she committed to it? Hadn’t she committed to being just a young girl born on the border?

Seeing Adolph shouldn’t have made her burst into tears, but it seemed tha