Kai:
The library smelled like age and secrets. Dust hung in the air, swirling in the faint light of enchanted sconces along the high stone walls, motes shimmering like tiny ghosts. The silence was almost suffocating, but I needed it. Needed it to cool down, to untangle the tight coil of fury and fascination that had Lucian’s mocking words twisting through my veins like a knife.
I slouched against one of the massive wooden tables, running a hand through my chaotic curls, pulling it back and releasing it in frustration. My mind wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t shut up. Lucian. That smug, impossible, arrogant bastard. His grin when he’d cornered Isadora in the hall—the sheer calculated cruelty in his eyes—still burned behind my eyelids.
Why did he do it? Why did he have to push her to the brink, to
