na

er over. She froze, unus

he gravel path outside the school gates, her

eck, breathing in the familiar lavende

rs bro

fingers clutching tightly

nd this new second chance sp

ic. "Giana, look at me. What happened? Who hurt you? Did one of the wards c

s, shaking my head hard against

a - seemed to shatter

back when I thought cold politeness and aristo

wrapped her arms

cupping the back of my head, pressing my face into her neck, just

e husky and tight. "Hush now. G

g steps, then pulled the ma

ns. She reached into a rosewood cabinet and pulled ou

sly as she helped clean my cheeks. "Then you must

, breathing in the steam, letting

t tell her

ck through time by a shattered memory basin, she would send me

down, crumplin

lings for Colin anym

ised her

the cushions, studying m

Glowgolds for three weeks to buy him tha

es not care about me, Mama. He only cares about the Sterling n

f me as though I were a prize h

silent for

kled in t

ssed her sharp features, though she quickly

clerk in the transport ministry anyway. His lineage is overstate

ing her eyes and refusing to

d, genuinely

r w

tending the gold paying for my tutors and robes fell from the sky instead of

t complet

the first time in my life, I watched h

were a stranger inhabit

, yet her voice trembled noticeably. "Wha

said, reaching across the t

twitched i

h to spend summer at coastal resorts with girls from o

ains, contracts with Dwarven mine

d at our jo

d fell with one l

glistened in her eyes, which she stubbornly b

he said, dropping her voice to its deepest, most commandin

try to sabotage your supply lines, and your own kin wi

charming, idle younger brother, who ran

ture, sell our exclusive wolfsbane distillation matrix to our gr

ith fierce, protective resolve. "That is why you

n sm

smile of a mother who had jus

my hand back. "Very well, my girl. We

vy robes, then tapped the carriage ce

gs unfurling, and the carriage jolted forw

ow as the stone towers of Wanling

th wa

tles to fight

oom, shielding my mother from the

yssal House, breaking through the iron armor of a boy w

t from my pocket, my fingers tracin

d: "Be

," I whispered to the