Fifteen years ago.
The proudest little princess of Sliver Ridge Pack, the girl raised in the palm of everyone’s hand, the daughter who had once loved them just as fiercely as they claimed to love her—that Nina had died a long time ago.
They were the ones who killed her with their own hands.
That tiny white robe had been torn by the wind, snagged in midair, then shaken loose and dropped into the mud.
I stared straight at Evelyn. My meaning couldn’t be clearer.
That robe belonged to Nina of Sliver Ridge. It didn’t belong to me—the Blood Wash Grounds cleaner.
Evelyn didn’t say a single word. She even forgot how to cry.
She just stared at me, the emotions in her eyes cracking apart bit by bit until they shattered completely.
From beginning to end, my gaze never rippled, as still as a s
