The letter trembled in my fingers like it had a heartbeat of its own.
Deliver her by the next full moon or I will burn your empire and everyone in it. Starting with the blue house on Maple Ridge.
My mother’s house. My childhood. The only place that had ever felt safe.
I looked up at Damien. He hadn’t moved. He just stood there on the other side of the black marble desk, hands in his pockets, watching me the way a wolf watches a rabbit that’s suddenly grown claws.
“You’ve known about this Soren guy for three years,” I said, voice low and shaking. “You’ve known he wants me. And you still let me walk around thinking my biggest problem was a bad performance review.”
He didn’t deny it. He never did.
“I kept you alive,” he answered simply. “That was the deal I made with myself the day I sa
