LOGINRomy povMy shoulder blades pressed hard into the dusty velvet cushion of the settee. The fabric smelled of dry cedar and old soot that never quite left the wool filling after the storage wing was shut off for winter.Above me, the window was just a dark grey square where the freezing sleet that kept hitting the glass in a rattle that grew louder every time the wind blew stronglyI was a complete fool. I kept repeating the same stupid mistakes, letting my guard down the second someone showed me any little act of kindness. I actually let myself believe Valerie was just being nice, despite the fact that i’d suspected her for poisoning my drink weeks ago.One moment of cold hands and a warm mug and I’d walked straight into her trap again.If only Xry could see me right now, flat on my back because I couldn’t smell a basic root extract in a mug of elderberry juice–I’d never hear the end of it.I survived the Hawthorne fires and three years of assassination contracts just to let two villa
Romy povCaleb leaned back against the wooden frame of the booth, his fingers drumming on his buckle slowly. He didn’t look at Rowan’s fist, still bunched in the front of his jacket, he just squinted through the grey light toward the front window.“You think you’re the only one keeping track of her, Rowan?” he said, his teeth showing behind a thin, dry smile. “Lord Kaelen from the northern border came through the high crossing this morning. He spent twenty minutes at the gate station talking about what he’s going to do with the Viper once she’s out of this villa.”Rowan’s fingers tightened into the nylon until the seams popped. His shoulders bunched under his wool coat, his head lowering until his chin almost touched his collar.“Kaelen doesn’t know anything about the valley quarters,” Rowan said, his voice coming out in a low, gravelly rasp. “He hasn’t been within fifty miles of the lower gates since the winter truce.”Caleb let out a short, wet bark of laughter, his eyes moving towa
Romy pov The air inside the main house sat thick and stale, tasting of old wood and damp cloth.Pamela stood by the heavy oak sideboard in the dining hall, counting through a stack of yellow delivery slips. “The automated network is dropping packets again, Romy,” she said, her fingers sliding one slip to the bottom of the pile. “Go down to the transit terminal and verify the dry goods by hand. Take the lower road.”I nodded once and kept my face flat. If her errand got me out of the villa for an hour, I’d let her think I was listening.I pulled my heavy coat off the iron peg by the pantry before she finished speaking. My boots hit the gravel path outside, the soles sliding sideways on the grey patches of thin ice on the asphalt.The weight behind my collarbone pulled harder with every ten yards I put between myself and the residential block. It pulled like a cold wire hooked under my collarbone. I tucked my chin into my wool collar and kept walking.The freezing sleet came down in gr
Romy povThe air inside the main house was thick and stale and smelled like old wood and damp cloth.Pamela was standing by the heavy oak sideboard in the dining hall, counting through a stack of yellow delivery slips. “The automated network is dropping packets again, Romy,” she said, her fingers sliding one slip to the bottom of the pile. “Go down to the transit terminal and verify the dry-goods manifests by hand. Take the lower road.”I nodded, keeping my face flat. If her errand got me out of the villa for an hour, I’d let her think I was listening.I pulled my heavy coat off the iron peg by the pantry before she finished speaking, my boots already hitting the gravel path outside.The weight behind my collarbone pulled harder with every ten yards I put between myself and the residential block. It pulled like a cold wire hooked under my collarbone. But I tucked my chin into my wool collar and kept walking as the free
Romy povThe gauze on my palm kept splitting at the stitching every time I pressed the stylus down to log the barrel numbers. The kitchen was quiet except for the ice maker in the corner, dropping cubes into the bin with a dull thud every few minutes.The heavy oak door behind the counter clicked open and Rowanwalked in, his broad shoulders filling the frame before he even stepped through. The smell of freezing rain and wet wool hit the small space instantly, coming off the dark collar of his coat in a faint, cold mist.He didn’t drop his keys on the hook by the door or even look toward the pantry logs. He just moved straight to the desk, leaned over my shoulder from behind, his chest briefly pressing against my back as he reached past me.The cold brass buttons of his jacket brushed my upper shoulder through the thin cotton of my shirt. He didn’t take the stylus, neither did hetouch the tablet.His left hand came down on my hip,
Romy PovThe brass garden tap behind the garage didn’t have a rubber washer left in it. Freezing well water kept dribbling over the brass thread, running straight down my forearm into the sleeve of my thermal shirt. The skin on my knuckles was grey and thick with dried lime wash from the cellar. They split across my middle finger and opened again every time I tried to scrub the crusted white paste out of my nails.A delivery pickup came down the lane and braked hard near the loading bay. The engine cut and Liam Mercer dropped from the cab.He didn’t bother checking the delivery log on the sun visor, he unfastened the tailgate with his left hand, his work gloves tucked under his arm while he dragged a fifty-pound sack of road salt toward the edge of the truck bed.His dark hair was flat on one side from the rain, stuck to his temples in thin streaks that ran to his jawline. When he lifted the second crate of winter fluid, his shoulder hit the steel corner of the truck bed. He caught
Romy's POVKieran stretched his stay on Wednesday, sending a two line note to Rowan citing ongoing territorial business, asking for another four days. Rowan granted it with the strained smile of a man who had no logical reason not to and knew it. By Thursday, Kieran had found three occasions on w
Romy PovThe dress was intentional.Deep burgundy silk, fitted through the waist, structured enough to sharpen every line of my body instead of softening it. The back dipped low between my shoulder blades, exposing skin in a way that looked elegant instead of obvious.I was going to be a distractio
Romy PovThe east wing library smelled like aged paper and cedar. And I enjoyed it.It wasn't one of those library out of any romantic notions of libraries, it didnt like it because of that, no, but because it had four entrances, two of which would require some thinking, visual connections to the m
Romy PovI was standing on the upper landing, the cold iron railing biting into my palms as I stared down at the black-and-white marble of the great entrance. I held a book, some leather-bound history of the Northern territories, but I hadn’t turned a page in forty minutes. My mind was a mess of e







