s P

departure, my mother decid

d, her voice laced with a determined cheerfulness. "Fre

ass of untouched lemonade in my hand. The party was in full swing behind me-the light

me, her brow furrowed with worry. Her fiery red

ow and furious. "An Alpha he may be, but he has the manne

itter smile. "It's

ppalling," she huff

deep, cold numbness inside me. The rejection still stu

a rose bush, cast furtive glances in my direction. Their vo

has a woman i

me say, but he's u

ady Alys to the Vanderbilt estat

true. Still, they cut deep-because deep down, I feared they might be. The thought of Darius

s felt tight, my stomach churning with a

murmured to Isabelle,

the lake. It led to a small, elevated stone platform, a sort of private balcony overlooking th

te. The whispers, the crushing weight of my fate-it

Kensin

eferential. "You look pale. May

her-Brandi Hicks, a distant cousin on my mother's side, taken in by the family and given a position in the househo

ice surprisingly steady. "I'm quit

the safety of the party. But she steppe

ipping with false sympathy. "Those gossiping hens. The Al

ething sharp and malicious. She was en

old look and tried

l movement, but the hand that shot out was anything but accidental

nd. For a horrifying, weightless second, I was airbo

e. The mask of concern had vanished,

of green and blue before the

ld was a living thing, seeping into my bones, paralyzing me. My heavy dres

my throat. Water filled my mouth, my nose. My vision blurred. The

once before. I had drowned in this very lake, been pulled out half-dead, then sent away to Rosewood Cottage on the Vanderbilt estate. Darius had visited me only o

ile. And suddenly, I understood why I had felt so unsettled all along- that

of a life I had

ad been locked away until the very moment I nearly dr

s consu

cough wrac

e.I saw a blurry figure swaying in front of me. The impact of falling into the water made it impossible for me to ma

s, thank t

th terror. He was patting my back, his movements frant

emory of my life leading up to this exact moment. They weren't separate anymore. They were one. I was whole-and

es were rattling. It wasn't from the cold. It was from th

. She had waited until the moment of my first death t

ed to my face. My gaze swept through the panicked cr

ed onto a si

essed to her mouth in a perfect pantomime

fury and fear in her eyes. He

arried groundskeepers, and she had silenced me. And this time, I knew exactly what I had to do. I would n

I lifted a trembling, water-logged

but in the sudden hush, it carried a

I choked out.