LOGINGEORGINA'S POV, The safe house was on the outer edge of the city, tucked behind a row of buildings that had been abandoned. It was exactly the kind of place that didn't exist on any map anyone important looked at—unremarkable, forgettable, useful. I had three of them positioned across the kingdom
GEORGINA'S POV, I had known Anil for long enough to understand that his greatest flaw was also the thing that had once made me want him, he actually believed in things. Not strategically, not as performance, but genuinely, the way people believe in things when no one has yet taught them how expensi
ELIAS'S POV, I had been in enough rooms like this one to recognize the architecture of a trap before anyone bothered to spring it. Karlson was the provocateur, that much was obvious within the first few minutes of watching him work. He had the particular gift of people who had spent decades inside
ELIAS'S POV, I was seven years old the first time I saw her. My father had taken me to one of those gatherings. The noble families dressed it up as celebrations but were really just exercises in demonstrating power—who stood where, who spoke first, who had the finest clothes and the most polished
ELENA'S POV, Something shifted before anyone said a word. It wasn't loud or obvious, but I felt it, the way a room changes when danger decides to walk in and make itself comfortable. Andrew's warning still echoed in my ears, low and controlled but sharp enough to cut through everything else. Stay
ANDREW'S POV, Something ate at my nerves once we realised that neither of us were ready to move back. It pulled my mind from them and their smug looks. I thought about the bigger picture, the dirty politics that had ruined this kingdom for years. Every deal hid a knife. Every promise was a trick
My chest tightened because I could feel more coming out of his mouth. Somehow, in my heart, I already knew that I was one of the girls, but I didn't know he was on the mountain too. I never saw him in my vision, it was always the other girl—older and more beautiful than anyone I'd ever seen, and me.
“You looked like you wanted to talk to me the whole evening,” he murmured. “I saw the way you kept looking at me, but stopped yourself every time. What's wrong?”“What's wrong?” I exhaled with a shaky laugh. “I’m falling apart, and you are asking me what's wrong? Did you notice it today?”I had forg
RYAN'S POV,The light spilling from the half-closed door of Elena's bedroom cut across the floor like a thin blade. I stood there longer than I should have, listening for any sound from inside, but nothing came to welcome me. There was just the silence of the night on that side of the palace, contra
“Good morning,” I said quietly, trying to keep the sudden yawn from bubbling up. He didn't respond immediately, instead of, he studied my face as though it were a wound he was afraid to touch.“You didn’t sleep,” he finally said, but it sounded more like a last-second observation than what he actual







