Servants lowered their eyes when they passed Lucien in the halls.
Guards stiffened at their posts, their ears sharp, their nostrils twitching as though they scented something rotten in the air.
And Rhea felt it all.
Her room was lit only by the pale glow of the moon seeping through the high window. She sat at the edge of her bed, knees drawn close, her fingers digging into the blanket.
Her thoughts returned again and again to the words she had overheard… silver blood, danger, corruption. She had not been in the council hall, but she knew. News traveled quickly in a place like this, faster than anyone could stop it.
Her heart ached as she lay down. Even as exhaustion pulled her, she replayed one truth over and over in her head,
I don’t belong here.
Darkness met her.
The first soun
