MasukThe crowd cheered, but none were louder than our excited children.Ivan’s POVIt was good of Claire to invite me to her wedding. I’d thought for a while that I might avoid the whole thing, but now that I was here, that I could be surrounded by the obvious love between the pair, I was glad that I had
Claire’s POVThe day of our wedding, I couldn’t stop looking at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a flowing white dress that Leo and Nova had helped me pick out. My hair was done up in a bun. I barely recognized myself, so put together and done up.“You look like a princess,” Nova said from nearby
Gideon’s POVI kissed Claire with my full heart, then held her close. She giggled, pressed into the safety of my arms.“We can talk about it now,” she said. “Or you could kiss me again. I liked that.”“I want to,” I told her truly. “I don’t want to stop kissing you. But after all this, I want to see
Claire’s POVI was dragged out of the trunk roughly by my arms, then shoved down into the dirt at Daphne’s feet.Quickly, I glanced around, but I didn’t really recognize where I was. A forest, but I had no idea which one. Tents were set up here and there and people I didn’t know milled about. This m
George glanced over, seeing me in the dim interior light.“He loves you,” he said.“He does.”“Do you love him, too?”“Yes,” I said. It came out easier than I thought it would. “Yes, I do,” I said again, to be sure. This time was just as easy.“Good,” George said. “Gideon is a good man, a brave and
Claire’s POVWe had a handful of hours before we needed to leave for the exchange. In that time, George had me fitted for body armor.“They will likely attempt to remove it from you,” he said. “But try to keep it on for as long as you can. I don’t know what kind of torture they will attempt, but thi
The only thing I could hope for now was clarification and understanding.“Are you leaving because of me?” I asked her.She paused for a beat. Maybe a beat too long. “No,” she said finally. “I have other reasons why I need to return home.”“Reasons you can’t disclose to me,” I said.“Correct,” she re
Claire’s POVLeo’s request of his father shocked me. Given all that Daphne had put him through, how could he want Gideon to try to find him another mother?And why would he even want one, when I was right here? Yes, he didn’t know that I was his real mother, but I tried to be there for him like a mo
Claire’s POVHis coldness chilled me from the inside out, and in a moment of weakness, I thought about telling him the truth about me and Ivan. I had sought him out before to tell him such, but with the way he was acting now, so curt and annoyed, I didn’t really want to have that kind of discussion
Gideon’s POV“I will ask you once more,” Justin said. He was openly scowling at me now, his dislike and distrust of me clear on his face. “Release Darius over to me.”“Bringing you here was a curtesy,” I said. “So that you could see for yourself the truth of things. That you continue to refuse to be







