Esther’s POV
The transfer slip trembled between my fingers like a bird trying to escape. Kevin’s name glared back at me from the bank ledger, another loan denied. Carl’s latest labs burned in my bag: markers sliding downhill, medications failing, time running out. Every road I had built over the past six years led back to the same wall: Nicholas.
I stared at my reflection in the polished marble of the palace hallway. My face looked older than thirty, hollows under my eyes, lips bloodless. Sharon hovered at the edge of my consciousness, restless but not yet fully awake, flickering like a candle.
“You’ll do anything,” I whispered to my reflection. “So do it.”
The guards outside his office stiffened as I approached. No one stopped me. Maybe they’d already been told to expect me. Maybe the
