Cambrik sat by the room window, staring out at the city as it stretched endlessly before her. The glass pane felt cool under her fingertips, a stark contrast to the heat of her memories. The past rose in her mind, unbidden and relentless, dragging her back to the moment when everything changed—when her life stopped being her own and became something molded by the will of others.
It had all started with Funchal Chemical Lab. Her father, Thomas Sher, had been so proud of that place, pouring his life’s work into it. He’d often called it his legacy, the foundation of the Sher family’s future. But legacies were fragile, and the chaos that erupted three years ago had shattered theirs beyond repair.
Cambrik had been just a schoolgirl then, cocooned in the relative safety of her boarding school,
