Lilith’s POV:
My face throbbed from both pain and humiliation as I left the others at the house and went for a walk. I had done exactly what I was ordered to do: provoke Estella, test her control, push her close enough to reveal what lurked beneath her calm. If it wasn’t for her friend, she would have snapped. I was sure.
The flutter of wings made me look up just as a raven landed on one of the lower branches of the nearest tree, letting out a piercing caw. I made sure there was no one around before approaching the bird and slipping the message from the tiny container onto its leg.
The parchment turned into ash a second after I read it. Everything I had—my magic, my rank, even my life—belonged to that person, so if destroying Estella was the price of keeping it, then I’d do it gladly.
