Vitie

d through the Outf

, blood in the water. And right n

done the

tar, he had married her. A courthouse wedding. N

d girl his name. H

take what no one ha

oetic, if it wa

d outside the iron gate

Outfit. High walls, armed guards, and a curricu

Leo. My brother was handling a ship

s that him?

know the code, young enou

owed h

d up to the curb.

his eyes shadowed by sleeplessness. He wal

steppe

had seen her in three

replaced by a polished, neutral

dn't quite fit her shoulders. Sh

niable. She had Lu

froze, his hand

his gaze. She d

all, victorious

lashing the diamond on

or me three years ago,

but I swallowed it down. I stood pe

ld toward the gate.

rough. He stopped a few feet

ello territory," I said, my voice ice. "

my daughter," he said

He was small, but he

Luca hard

outed. "My dad sa

tumble. He ba

Parents stopped talking. The ai

ed down a

s soldier. But then he looked at his daughter,

oked

y, Gianna," he said

a slap. He was threateni

woman who had used a ch

id, my voice low enough that only h

rm and ushered her and the child t

hed th

tecting them. He thou

had just painted a