nora

jection was a physical weight, but his presence was a grounding force. Slowly, I pushed my

g the blood from his lips with the back

a pathetic, weeping heap. When my ey

lease, forgive me!" she sobbed, her

you? Karmen, when you paid those rogues to corner me in th

apestry of the day's sordid events. They stared at Karmen, their expressions shifting from confusion to d

rab the hem of my dress. "It was jealousy! I was a foo

k, my face twisting in

, a watchful predator. This was

asked, my voice dangerously s

lit her tear-filled eyes.

d. Tell them how you drugged me. Tell them how you paid Rocco and his friends to have the

owd. This was more than an apology. This

ror. "No... sister, you can't!" s

u were doing to me?" I sho

lling, I won't force her. For a creature this venomous, a danger to th

ic shame, or a death sentence

" he said, his tone bored and final. "The N

snapped toward Julian, her eye

a raw, gaping wound, and he blamed her entirely for

utterl

at first, then grew clearer as she confessed every sordid detail of her plot. With every word,

to the ground, a boneless heap of s

o triumph. Only a vast, cold empti

a," I said quietly to Cedric. "

d hauled her to her feet like a sack of garbage. He shot one last look at me, a toxic cockt

ruined mate away, disappearing into the wood

was over.

in my bones. The backlash from the rejection, the mental strain, the emotional upheaval-it all cr