Reborn Heiress: The Shadow Regent's Obsession

tting the casket was rhy

eyes with a pristine white handkerchief, posing for the cameras flashing behind the police barricade. Her

wasn't i

own funeral. The rain in D.C. was always cold, but she couldn't feel it anymore

olving like ink in wate

ice overlooking the Capitol. The a

ker sat beh

rogance was gone. His white dress shirt was stained crimson at the c

his laptop. The s

SYSTEM:

r family, the Collins family-everyone who had played a part in her downfall-were

came from

wood was on his knees, his e

... I didn't kno

't speak. He simply raised a

he scream was silent to her ghostly ear

Regent, the man who moved pieces on the political board with dispassi

He reached into his pocket and pul

neck

h the koi fish pendant. She tho

fraction of a second. A tremor ran through his h

ish," he

blow. No one called her that. Only a ghost

lights washed over the walls. The

ingdom, and was now content to burn the empty throne. He looked at the

her voice soundles

sed the

stantaneous, a consuming fire that shou

didn'

fro

wisted, warping into the he

fire was replaced by the very real,

loating. She

. Above her, the surface of the water ripp

icked

t panic is a powerful fuel. She clawed at the water, her fingern

ah

he air tasting of night-blooming

The clinking of

ew this pool. She knew those Grecian columns. She kn

he Lancast

her Debut

year

help her!" A voice s

o paddle to the edge. The weight of t

ds grabbed

he collapsed onto the cold stone, shivering violently. Her dress, a ridiculous confectio

w fell

ll to hide her shame, a heavy w

ack

andalwood, tobacco, and some

against her ribs. S

d up, water drippi

h a speed that suggested he wanted nothing to do with the scene he had just inte

dn't need

i, are y

e flushed with feigned concern. He dropped to his k

for the gathering crowd to hear. "I

ared a

ctly coiffed. His

ted, so grateful, that she had believed him. She had let him hold her. She had let him

losion was still searin

ked pas

Catarina Collins. Her lips were curved in a small, tight smile. A

d push

hand on her back. T

lumsy. She h

aped over her. Her fingers brushed agai

hand inside

al foldi

dy's jacket. Cody Stevens wouldn't

o had just walked away. The man wh

ad

her into a hug for the cameras. "

flinch. She

t possess five minutes ago. She shif

er voice was raspy,

hands suspended

her knees. She pulled the oversized jacket tighter arou

ked at

its place was a flicker

e girl who fell into the pool was a victim. The

r voice cutting through

dy, on the party, on the

den knife in the poc

m her hair like tears she refused to shed. Thi