Dereon led Seraphina back into Ryan’s office.
Seraphina lifted her head to face the man she both deeply loved and deeply feared.
Ryan stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, backlit by the pale light. Shadows cast across his face, and his dark eyes gleamed with an icy sharpness, as though piercing straight through her.
Her heart pounded wildly, and fear crept through her veins.
She thought back to the years she had spent by his side. She had witnessed his transformation from a frail young man, enduring humiliation and illness, into the powerful figure that now commanded fear across the empire.
She ached for the suffering he had endured and admired the unyielding strength that had brought him to this moment.
If today was the day he decided to kill her, Seraphina suddenly thought, perhap
