ma

mall, silver-framed photograph of my brother Jonas and me. I thought of his leg, crippled in a "d

book on military strategy that I had been studying earlier. I opened it

k it for pain. For weakness. A fl

of reason. "Gemma, you can't blame me for this. You'

never met Archon Damien. Today was the

hink I'm a fool? I know it was you, years ago, who reported to the High Sovereign

e confusion breaking through my composure. "What

ou're always playing games. You were jealous of the attention Father gave him, s

d in a world of his own making, a world where I was a petty, mani

over me. I had wasted years

hink he will target? A minor noblewoman who allegedly forged a report, or the golden brother who stole his birthright, claimed his glory, and sits com

ntly in his cheek. He hated it when I us

," I said, my voice tired. "But

oman whose circle is responsible for my brother's ruin-a

er was an inconvenience. "That was Jonas's

laced with dragon's blood poison?

forbidden topic, one he never

ot here to argue about the past. I am asking

It is late, and this is my private sanctuary. Pleas

wounded anew. "Don't think I am desperate for you

perate for you," I replied,

titioning the High Sovereign for a

ing he held all the cards, that he was dictating the terms of my surre

"Gemma Leon, you belong to me! You will

he old wood groaned and a crack sp

s eyes burning with

fference. That apathy, I realized, was what drove hi

c entered his eyes. The fear of truly losing

he snarled. "I will show you th

out, slamming the door so hard

ding the edge of the

to do? With Lord Jonas injured, the House of Leon is already so vulnerable. If Archon

re. My gaze drifted toward the w

ke his vows the moment he brought that rebel into his

" I murmured to my

d. I needed to know the truth of th

es. He believed that by isolating me, by cutting off the Leon estate from the social life of th

ady," Bryana said, setting a

ns outside my study window. "He's not the type

I also spent hours in the gardens, sorting through medicinal herbs, finding a strange peace in the simple, repetitive labor. I knew Elliott had sent his captain, Sil

ers that came back were the same old ghost stories: a monste

e butler announced him. Archo

rm had