artner above all else. Jocelyn will be your queen, Jake. Yo

s gaze meeting mine, a practiced sincerity in his eyes. I had believed him. I had believed in

her foot, his face a mask of false devotion. The raw, visceral pain that shot through me was a physical

uldn't give them the satisfaction. The tears welled up, hot and insistent,

urned through my veins, until the pain was a distan

rious for her fiery spirit and unpredictable temper. She wa

. Her dark eyes, full of untamed energy, met mine. Sh

rse, a blur of motion and raw power. The wind whipped past my face, tearing at my hair, but I barely not

ding, was a jolt, a temporary reprieve from the gnawing pain in my soul. I pushed for more,

violently at something unseen, perhaps a shadowed branch, perhaps a ph

in my throat. I lay there, dazed, the world spinning. Tempest, panick

s back to me, still absorbed in his theatrical devotion to Djuna. He hadn't seen me fall.

re from my throat,

n towards me, his face finally etched with genuine concern. But it

ered leg. I was in the private wing of the family's medical facility. Jake was there, surprisingly. He

f hope flickered within me. Maybe he did care. Maybe th

clinical, detached. His eyes, though often on me, held a vacant

rd it. Voices, hushed but clear, from just

l out?" Djun

works wonders," Jake r

? I hadn't been given a se

today. It almost didn't work." Djuna's voice, laced

dge to his tone. "She was getting too close. Too sharp

old. Broken? H

"The one that makes them restless, but also a little

ded, his voice laced with triumph. "Keeps her disoriented, makes h

an accident. It was a deliberate act of sabotage. Not just to

his tracks. His concern was a performance.

rtured in my broken heart, was extinguished. Replaced by