{Aria}
The carriage rattled along the cobblestone streets, the steady clop of hooves and the creaking of wooden wheels filling the air.
Inside, Princess Aria sat rigid, her storm-grey eyes fixed on the window, watching the city pass by in a blur of color and motion.
[Lady Belstadt was right,] she thought, her fingers curling around the small, innocuous rune resting in her palm.
It had been cool to the touch when the noblewoman had pressed it into her hand that morning, her voice low and urgent.
"Keep this with you, Your Highness," she had said, her eyes darting around as if afraid of being overheard. "It will warm if that nim girl, Melisa, tries to use her pheromones on you."
Aria had been skeptical at first, but she had taken the rune nonetheless, slipping it into her pocket with a nod of thanks.
