The Ice Monster purred as Ashara guided it onto the two-lane road that wound through pine-laden hills toward Graymoor University. Twin SUVs—her “security detail”—followed at a respectful distance, but she could still feel their presence like training wheels she hadn’t asked for.
Okay, Ash, she told herself, knuckles whitening around the leather wheel. Don’t do anything reckless. One wrong turn and Dad’s going to ground you until you’re forty.
She inhaled the new-car scent, half exhilarated, half terrified. Ideas flickered through her mind—speeding ahead to lose the guards, ducking onto an unmarked forestry track, pretending she needed gas at a convenience store and slipping out the back—but each scenario ended with the same vision: Kael’s silent disappointment. That, more than any locked door, kept her in lane.
He wants to control me, she thought, the old ache resurfacing. He lost Mom and now he’s afraid of losing me, so every choice I make has to be padded in bubble wrap. She tapped
