"I cannot, in good conscience, dismiss evidence this serious without a formal investigation," Damian said, and Elena felt every scrap of hope drain out of her chest at once. "Elena will be confined to the estate under guard until the source of the letters and the missing rounds can be fully traced. That much, the council is right to demand."
It was not the worst possible outcome. It was, in its own way, almost mercy compared to formal charges, and Elena understood dimly, even through her own panic, that Damian had chosen the gentlest version of a bad decision available to him. It did nothing to loosen the fist closed around her heart.
Elena's hands had begun to shake, small tremors she couldn't quite still no matter how hard she pressed her palms flat against her own skirt. Confinement s
