Viya's POV
Lucius noticed my limp only after I threw away the wedding dress.
"Why are you still walking like that?" he asked. "It has been days."
I almost laughed.
He had noticed the dress before he noticed me.
"It was almost healed," I said, "until last night."
"What happened last night?"
"At the Blackwood dinner, I knelt in the snow for four hours."
His face changed. "You what?"
"They were upset you didn't attend."
His eyes dropped to my hands. Red. Swollen. Still painful.
"And your hands?"
"I washed dishes in ice water."
The room went silent.
Lucius looked genuinely shocked. That almost angered me more.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"You had urgent business."
His throat worked.
I sat on the sofa because standing hurt. "Besides, this happens every time you send me there alo
