EMMALINE
The vow I made pulses through me long after the tears have dried—a dark thread woven into every thought.
It’s the only thing keeping me upright when the world tilts beneath my feet. I know I can’t act rashly. I have one chance to get this right. If I fail, it won’t just be my life that ends. It will be something worse. He’ll know. And he’ll not only make me pay for daring to defy him. He’ll punish the only people I care about. My family.
So I begin in silence.
The next morning, I walk into the kitchen. It’s a place I’ve never willingly spent time before, and I find Maggie bent over the counter, slicing herbs with the kind of precision that comes from years of practice. She looks up, startled, when I ask if her offer to teach me still stands.
Her eyebrows lift, the knife paus
