Chapter 3

"All right."

I walked past the butler and went straight to the bedroom.

I was done waiting. I would never wait again.

I had Claire lock the door, then pulled a black wooden chest from the back of the wardrobe. Inside were not gowns or jewels, but the deeds to every property my family owned in Greyharbor.

The Lamberts were not old-blood nobility, but they ran the largest licensed blood supply station in Greyharbor, along with a night hospital, a transport fleet, and dozens of shops. I was the family's sole heiress. When I insisted on marrying Adrian, who had nothing to his name, my father was so angry that he shattered a century-old crystal glass. Even so, he gave me a large fund of my own.

In the three years since, Adrian had risen from a councilman with no backing to Chief Magistrate. His salary was not even enough to run the estate and maintain its protective wards. Nearly every gold coin spent on hosting council members, forming ties with old-blood families, and dealing with the hunters' delegation came from my family.

I checked the accounts page by page, and my heart sank a little more with each one. Five hundred gold pounds had been withdrawn from the East District textile shop last month and eight hundred from the Southbank blood tavern this month, yet none of it had appeared in the estate's general ledger.

Where had it all gone?

It had gone to the sunstone around Lillian's throat, the rose blood jelly from the Twilight Parlor, and the expensive moonstones in the shop's display cases.

Adrian looked down on me for being a merchant, yet he had no problem spending my family fortune to spoil his delicate lover.

The next night, I took the ledger to the study. Caine was standing guard outside the door. When he saw me, he stepped sideways to block the entrance. "Ma'am, the Magistrate is handling private matters."

"Step aside."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't let you in."

I let out a cold laugh. Given my age and bloodline, if I truly wanted to get past him, Caine couldn't stop me. I didn't give him a chance to draw his sword. I shoved him aside and kicked the study door open.

Adrian sat behind his desk, signing documents with a bone-handled pen. When he saw me burst in, he slammed the pen down, splashing dark red ink across the page.

"Evelyn, you're becoming more rude by the day."

I walked to the desk and slammed the thick ledger in front of him. "Is this the Chief Magistrate's idea of good manners? Stealing his wife's money to pay for his lover?"

Adrian jumped to his feet. "What are you talking about?"

"Five hundred gold pounds from the East District textile shop, eight hundred from the Southbank blood tavern, plus three thousand from the joint account. Do I need to bring the jewelry shop's new owner here so she can tell me where all that money went?"

He stared at me without offering an explanation. He didn't even try to hide it anymore. Instead, he looked at me with open disgust. "Evelyn, all you see are ledgers and gold. You're so obsessed with money that I can barely stand you."

He grabbed the ledger and threw it to the floor, his voice rising. "I am the Chief Magistrate of Greyharbor. So what if I used the money from a few of your shops? You swore a blood oath with me. Everything you have belongs to the Vaughn household. Are you trying to humiliate me by waving these stupid ledgers in my face?"

I looked at the man before me and felt like I was looking at a stranger. Three years ago, he had cut his palm open by candlelight in the old church and sworn to respect and protect me forever.

"I'm not the one humiliating you. Your greed and lies are doing that."

"Enough!" Adrian shouted for Caine. "Escort her back to her bedroom. Without my permission, she is not allowed to leave this estate."

The Vaughn household had no blood spell that could keep me there, only guards and Adrian's authority as my husband. But if I forced my way out, he could accuse me in front of the Night Council of breaking our blood oath and attacking the Magistrate's guard.

I didn't resist. Letting him believe he still had all the power worked in my favor.

At the door, I glanced back at him. "Adrian, you'd better pray you never need anything from me."

On the third night of my confinement, Graham led a young woman into the inner courtyard. "Ma'am, this is the new dressmaker. She's here to take your measurements for your winter gowns."

I looked up from my seat on the terrace. Lillian stood there in a deep crimson gown, the moonstone rose pinned to her chest and the sunstone Adrian had given her still hanging around her throat.

Once the butler left, all the innocence disappeared from her face. She looked smug, like she had already won.

"So proper, just like a Magistrate's wife should be. Too bad you'll never know how to make a man happy."