Brando's heart seized so sharply it felt like a fist had wrapped around it, and a searing pain crashed through his whole body all at once. Fine, feathery snowflakes drifted down slowly, landing on his warm cheeks. Their biting, icy chill finally jolted him out of the dazed, frozen stupor he'd been trapped in.
He stared unblinkingly at the spot before him, a roiling, bone-deep chill surging in his eyes.
His voice was cold enough to freeze blood, thick with crushing pressure and unbridled fury. "Did Solenne put you up to this farce to trick me? Do you have any idea what kind of felony defrauding the royal family is, and what happens to people who commit it?"
Jasmine's face drained of all color, as pale as a sheet of paper. She trembled like a sieve, but still clung desperately to the memo
