ELARA
After Gerald left, I lay on the bed, tossing and turning, restless and afraid of the discussion we were going to have when he returned. The reason he dragged me here remained clear, and I had no idea how I was going to respond.
Outside this room awaited his answer. That room, hidden deep within this house, harbored the last of my family's honor—the one thing I had managed to secure with an uncertain heart before I was overthrown, brought to my knees in disgrace. I couldn't let Gerald into that room. I had to distract him, somehow.
I sat up abruptly, slipping out of the bed draped in a duvet that smelled of accumulated dust and damp. I ignored the stench, shivering against the intense cold that shriveled my fingers. Forcing my feet to the window, I threw aside what used to be a bri
