Seraphina's POV
Mortimer flicked a look at the flowers, his voice dropping into a testing, low hum. "Not your style?"
I shook my head. "They're beautiful. Thanks."
My voice was light—clinical. I was being as polite as I would be to a stranger in a business meeting.
That level of professional courtesy put a goddamn canyon between us.
I saw him stiffen. Through the dying spark of our bond, I caught his shock. He'd expected me to light up, to be the star-struck girl I used to be. He'd read the room completely wrong.
Then, he slid a small, expensive-looking box across the table.
"Open it."
I did what I was told. Inside was a sapphire that looked like a piece of the deep ocean had been frozen and cut into a perfect stone.
I'd seen the raw gem in an auction magazine on the flight back—i
