essure in Arielle's stomach easing

thick Persian runners and dim, warm sconces. At the far end stood a massi

carpet. She stared at those doors, and for the first time sin

leased his grip on her waist, his hand sliding up to r

ed to attention when they saw Ellis. They bowed their hea

rsation inside the s

g in old money-vaulted ceilings, a roaring marble fireplace, and fl

ging the threats and the targets. She fou

ng heavily against a silk cushion. The moment her eyes

over a bone-china teacup. Hot Darjeeling tea spilled

Elayne shoved her away with a desperate, frantic strength. She pr

le, throwing her arms

d of eighteen years of suppressed grief detonating all at once. He

. She didn't know how to be held. She hadn't been hugged since she was a toddler.

apped his large, shaking hands around the back of Arielle's head, stroking her damp hair over and over again.

It wasn't a transaction. Arielle's throat tightened. Slowly, her stiff arm

of wood against mar

ched. She leaned heavily on a purple sandalwood cane, h

Curtiss gently pulled Elayne

elle's cheek. Her thumb brushed away a streak of dried m

raspy but echoing with absolute authority. "

ne. Arielle watched as her aunt's features briefly contorted into an ugly mask before bei

ath. He saw his family surrounding his sister and let ou

ome. Sit down. You must be exhausted." She pulled Arielle tow

butler. He stepped forward,

sting on black satin, was a massi

chest. That necklace was the ultimate symbol

eck. The cold, heavy stone rested against her collarbone, the bl

w exactly what this meant. It wasn't just j

the shadows of the floor-to-ceilin

moke. His dark eyes cut through the room, bypassing the crying parents and the jealous aunt

ifted her chin, looking over her mother's s

Arielle blinked, dropping her gaze and leaning her head

, wiping his eyes. "Let us