CHAPTER FIVEBee Toxin
The city of Forlornn made an ugly contrast to the fine lines and stunning colours of my island. Created from rough, dark stone, the castle occupied the high ground and the city knelt at its feet. I’d left a paradise just budding into summer and the cold of Forlornn nipped at my flesh until my fingers turned blue. I hated it.
“Don’t leave me,” I begged Bliss on the morning of my wedding. “I don’t want this. Help me get home to our island.”
She shook her head and her chins wobbled against the action. Sadness flooded her eyes. “The island isn’t home, Estefania,” she whispered. “It was a fortress designed to keep you safe. Forlornn is your home now.” She turned her back on the tittering maids as they sniggered at the plainness of my formal dress. Bliss lowered her voic
