Serena's pov
Ramona came to my room again the next day, and this time she did not sit on the edge of the bed, or stand by the window, or look at me with those sad grey eyes that made me feel like a wounded animal being studied from a distance.
She pulled the wooden chair from the corner of the room and set it beside the fire, and she motioned for me to sit across from her on the floor. The chair was old, older than anything I had ever seen, with carved arms and a faded cushion that had once been red but was now the color of dried blood.
"I am going to teach you something," she said. "Not about the king, or the bond, or the court. I am going to teach you about this land, about the war, about the treaty, and about the sacrifices."
I did not move. I sat against the headboard with my back
