lyn

etending to read a financial report. I walked up to his leat

in surprise. "Changed your mind?

voice calm and even. "But I won't be your pawn,

from his face. He looked at me with a flicker of genuine admiration. "Yo

to the henhouse," I replied. I turned and

r for another. Whatever victory

day before had been banked, replaced by a deep-seated exhaustion that etched ne

amber liquid catching the light. He sat down in an armchair across from

again today," he said

ond. I just t

taring into his glass. "It's our primary res

as gone. In its place was something I couldn

eamed of him speaking to me like this, of him seeing me as his part

r. He didn't wan

t. Despite everything, I decided to give him one last chance. Maybe if I told him the truth-why I

ting to hammer against my ribs.

"It's not that I don't want to give you an he

Several emotions flickered across his face-plea

clink. "I don't want to hear your excuses. If you can't do th

t nothing came out. The fragile hope that had flickered insi

in, a shrill, piercing r

ph

impatience vanished, replaced by sharp, sudden alarm. He was on hi

trode toward the door, not e

he barked in

r side, but I saw the bl

isper. He turned back for a second, his

on. He didn't ask what I was

he sound echoing the shattering of

ained frozen in mid-air. The silence of the empt

w, broken thing. "It didn't just leave a scar. It poisoned me. I can

illness, unanswered, unh

ened. I had given him every chance. I had bent until

m

concern... for her. I let it wash over me, and I u

, he didn'

ack. My few clothes. My books. The small, framed photo of the human woman who had raised me, my grandmother. Finally, I picked up

nightstand. It was the gala invitation Kaden had left there

mand to stand beside him and play the devoted Luna for the cameras to satisfy the Elders and the press. But as I looked at the script, a cold, sharp clarity washed

dawn. I was leaving this house behind, but I wasn't done. In three da