LOGINEllie POVDominic stepped into our space with ease. He was smiling, the air changed immediately, the way it does when a predator enters a room and everyone pretends they don’t notice.I couldn’t help but shrink as his hand closed over mine, as if he could feel the tremor running through my fingers.
Lucas’s jaw tightened at the last word, and for a moment something in his expression flickered—almost softness, almost regret.Then it was gone.He nodded once, slow.“Yeah, well,” he said. “You never really needed it, so don’t worry about it. You’re exactly where you want to be, right?”My fists cu
Ellie POVThe first time I laughed, it surprised me.It slipped out before I could catch it, bright, totally unguarded, and the sound felt unfamiliar in my own throat, as if my body had forgotten how to make it without flinching afterward.For a second I expected the room to turn sharp again, for so
Ellie POVMy mother rushed past me like I wasn’t even there.For a moment, I just stood frozen, watching the hem of her deep purple gown sweep across the floor as she dropped to her knees beside Vivian, her white-gloved hands hovering helplessly over Vivian’s cheek, which was already swelling an ugl
He didn’t speak.He just stood there, staring at me with an expression I couldn’t fully name, something wounded and furious and heartbreakingly human all at once. His fingers twitched at his sides, curling and uncurling like he wanted to reach for me and didn’t trust himself to try.I felt this shar
Ellie POVYou know, I expected this.Even after everything Dominic had done these past few weeks, after the contract and the quiet promises and the way he had looked at me lately as if this arrangement was something fragile and real instead of something written in ink and obligation, a part of me ha
Cherry. Pie.My father’s favorite dessert.And there was absolutely no universe in which Vivian knew that on her own.Not unless someone told her.Or overheard.My jaw tightened, thoughts running back to Ellie when she used to scribble everything about me, my family, in a notebook.“Vivian,” I said
Ellie POV The dummy’s eyes flickered. It was dying.Gasps echoed. And a few people snickered.“Told you. She wouldn’t last.”“Some ‘prodigy,’ huh? She really is just some wanna be luna with a mask.”But instead of panicking, something in me was turning gears.I hadn’t messed up.My stitching was cl
“Ugh!” She jabbed my chest again. “You don’t mean any of this! You don’t care! I know you don’t! I know it for a fact! So stop acting like you care what I think ad stop bothering me!”“A fact?” My head snapped. “Ellie, what are you talking about? We’ve never even had a chance to—”She shoved me hard
“I’m fine, Viv. Just got a lot going on.”A lie. A terrible one.Because his gaze drifted again, drawn like a magnet to Ellie’s bright laugh across the courtyard.Heat crawled up my throat, and I had to bite down to keep it from spilling out. I wasn’t desperate. I refused to be desperate. Dominic h







