iege. Everywhere I looked, there were guards in dark suits, their hands resting near their holsters. Viktor wasn't taking any c

with my heartbeat. Two weeks. In fourteen days, I was supposed to walk down the aisle of the great cathedral and tie my life

ked like he hadn't slept a wink. There were dark shadows under his eyes, and his jaw was set so tight I thought his tee

eting. He walked over to the windows and pulled the heavy ve

spered. The silence of the room felt fake, lik

ignal jammer-and clicked it on. A low, vibrating hum filled the room, a sound that m

d weight. "Two weeks, Kaelen. How are we supposed to kill a man who has an entire army? Your father do

My father is obsessed with the Thorne legacy. He thinks by marrying you to me, he's finally won the war your father started fifteen years ago. He's p

I said, a bitter

lue eyes were burning with a cold fire. "He'll be so busy showing you off, so bu

" I asked, my voi

Kaelen

're really going to do it? You'r

t even scarier. "I was ten years old, Ivy. I remember the smell of the gasoline. I remember the way he looked at me and told me that if I didn't do it, I'd be in t

"Is that why you've been watching me all these years? Wer

y heart ache. "I watched you because I couldn't look away, Ivy. I saw you move from foster home to foster home. I saw you practice the cello until your fingers bled. Every time I want

At my recitals. I used to feel someone watching me from the

ar from my cheek. "Your music... it was the only thing that kept me from los

r and the blood and the wedding disappeared. We were just two broken

ity has ever seen. You have to make my father believe you've accepted your fate. You have to make him believe you'v

hospital bed. I thought of my father's kind eyes in that burnt photograph.

inside and brought out a small, high-tech earpiece-no bigger than a grain of rice. "Wear this. It's disgui

r fingers brushed, that electric spark from the n

ing to push us together. He wants to see 'passion.' He wants to know the marriage will be rea

tting the tiny red light of a hidden lens. My

ve him a show,

at, his body tense, and then his arms locked around my waist like iron bands. He lifted me off my feet, cru

ere a beautiful lie, two people built on a foundation of secrets and blood. But as Kaelen's hands tang

e time it hit zero, either the Don would be dead, or