I sucked in a breath, my pulse quickening.Two men.Two dangers.
And I was caught between them, drawn like a moth to a fire that could devour me whole.
In the sanctuary of my chamber, I allowed myself a moment of indulgence—a fleeting marvel at the boldness I had unearthed within myself.An innocent virgin, once destined for an arranged, loveless marriage, now teetered on the precipice of reckless desire.
Passion called to me.Temptation whispered promises in the dark.
A life untouched by disgust.A life where I would not wilt in the shadow of duty but blaze in the light of my choosing.
“Elizabeth,” I chided myself, the sound of my name a reprimand, a tether meant to pull me back to reason.I had been careless.Foolish.My heart had become a battlefield, torn between the storm that was Amir and the abyss that was the Black Wraith.
But as I rebuked myself, the truth slithered through my mind, undeniable and relentless.
I craved the fire.
I wanted to be consumed by it, to feel something real before I was snuffed out by fate’s cold, merciless hands.
The thought of submitting—of bowing my head, folding my hands, and accepting a future of cold duty beneath Lord Winston’s loathsome touch—made my stomach churn.
I would not bear it.
No.
I would chase the inferno.If only to blaze for a moment before the darkness claimed me.
A quick breath, a shake of my head—a futile attempt to silence the thoughts spun by men who had no right to linger in my mind.
“Men!Bah!”The whispered exclamation slipped from my lips, fierce and defiant.
Let them haunt me, let their touch linger on my skin like a ghost—I had more pressing matters than the war waged in my veins.
A new vow coiled within me, dark and unforgiving.
The elimination of my father’s society.
The destruction of Lord Winston.
They perched atop my intentions like carrion birds waiting to feast, but I would not be their victim.I would be their undoing.
I needed to craft the perfect poison—a concoction as potent and final as the resolve that now steeled my heart.
No more hiding.
No more fear.
Today, I became something else.
Something formidable.
* * *
As Mary entered to dress me, I stood tall, my movements no longer that of a girl shackled by duty but of a woman who had set herself free.
And when I descended the grand staircase, my simple gown whispering against the polished wood, it was with purpose in every step.
My father awaited me in his private sitting room.
He had no idea what was coming.
