a's

de my stomach drop. This was no coinciden

one prison. Now, she was gone. I was comp

d bread. My mind was a tangle

new duty: cleaning the High Sovereign's bedchamber. I

error for me, my heart hammering again

my only thought to

lk sheets, my hands froze. There, on the dark p

rown. It was Lady Corinna's.

hat was I to him? A toy to be picked up and discar

ls digging into my palm. I forced myself to breathe,

the chamber door ope

e was dressed in casual clothes today, less the

fingers brushing over the pillow I

It was brown. It was mine. It must have caught on the bed canop

hair up between his thumb and forefi

How could I explain? A servant's hair on t

bed?" He advanced on me, his eyes

king me into a corner. He slammed a hand against the wall

wn terrified reflection in the ice-blu

e blow, for the punishment I knew was c

ever came. Instead, I h

pale, a sheen of cold sweat on his brow. The

wrong w

's voice, high with panic, called out, "Your Majesty! It's urgen

ora," Kaelen's ent

. It was replaced by an expression I had never seen on

nd bolted from the room, moving with a desp

eak with shock and confusion, a

a. Her collapse had, for the seco

violent, so out of control. What