ログインDaisy Sleep refused to come.No matter how tightly I closed my eyes or how many times I rolled from one side of the bed to the other, my mind refused to quiet itself.The room was dark save for the thin ribbon of moonlight spilling through the curtains. Shadows stretched across the floor, shifting whenever the branches outside stirred in the wind.Usually, I found the silence comforting, but tonight, it felt unbearable. With a frustrated sigh, I threw the blankets aside and sat upright."Wonderful," I muttered into the darkness. "Now I'm talking to myself."The words earned the smallest smile, but even that disappeared almost immediately. I wasn't thinking about the food from dinner, or Lady Zara. I wasn't even thinking about Yvie and her poisonous little visit earlier.I was thinking about Caspian.Again.I rested my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my hands.Why? Why had he done that? He'd looked at me but not with disgust or anger. There wasn't so much as a hint of disa
Caspian I stared at the tiny shard of porcelain resting against my fingertips. It looked insignificant, ridiculously so, but I knew better. A fragment no larger than my thumbnail had somehow become the most important thing in the room.“So.”Octavian remained standing near the doorway, his eyes fixed on it. "You really think that's what made us lose consciousness?""I don't know." The answer frustrated me as much as it frustrated him. "But I know it wasn't tea."I rubbed the pale residue carefully between my fingers again. The powder had almost no scent. It wasn't sticky, nor did it resemble dried leaves or sugar.It was something else. “So what do we do with this?” Octavian crossed the room, stopping just short of me. "Can anyone even test something this old?"“They can.” I looked down at the shard. “But not here."Silence settled between us as I turned the fragment over once more before another face appeared in my mind.Professor Hawthorne. He could help, not because he was a p
Caspian Two days, that was how long I waited, not because I wanted to, but because I had to.The physician had insisted Octavian spend the first day resting. Whatever had happened to him had left him with blinding headaches, spells of dizziness and an exhaustion that refused to lift.Pushing him before he had recovered would accomplish nothing, so I waited.It was the longest two days of my life, because not once during that time did I go near Daisy.More than once I found myself standing halfway down the corridor that led to her room before forcing myself to turn around.I wanted to see her, I wanted to hear her voice and I wanted to ask her a hundred questions. Instead, I needed facts first.Emotion had already nearly cost me once, and I refused to let it happen again.By the third morning, Octavian looked more like himself, not completely, but enough.He was already waiting when I entered his study, standing beside the window with a mug of black coffee cradled between both hands
Daisy The room suddenly felt too small, and worse, I had crossed it so many times that I was certain I could walk it blindfolded. I went from the window to the door, to the fireplace, then to the bed, and then back again.My footsteps had become a rhythm all of their own, one that refused to stop because the moment I stood still, my thoughts caught up with me.Nothing made sense, not one single part of it. I remembered drinking tea with Octavian, I remembered trying to tell him about the baby, I remembered the room spinning, and then, nothing.Absolutely nothing.The next thing I knew, I had opened my eyes to find Caspian standing in the doorway while Octavian lay naked beside me.A shudder ran through my entire body at the mere thought of it. "No..." I whispered for what felt like the hundredth time. I pressed trembling fingers against my temples. "Think."I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought…Had someone come into the room? Had I heard voices? Had someone touched me?Anything, a
Caspian I had always believed anger clouded judgment and that was why I refused to make decisions while I was furious.Hours earlier, I had nearly forgotten that rule. Now, as the silence settled over my study once more, I forced myself to do the one thing I hated most.Think.I lowered myself into the chair behind my desk and closed my eyes and the image returned immediately.I saw Daisy and Octavian, both sprawled on the bed. My jaw tightened, but this time I pushed past the anger instead of surrendering to it and as the seconds ticked by, I asked myself one question.Just one.Why? Why would Daisy do something like that?The answer didn't come, because there wasn't one. Everything I knew about her stood against it, then another question followed.Why would Octavian?I almost laughed.If there was one man in this house who respected boundaries to a fault, it was my brother. He would rather argue with the entire council than betray me.So why?Nothing. I didn't have an answer an
Caspian I couldn't stop seeing it. No matter how many times I closed my eyes and no matter how many times I told myself there had to be an explanation.It was still there.Daisy, Octavian, on the same bed.The image replayed over and over until it felt carved into the inside of my skull. I paced the length of my study for what must have been the hundredth time since leaving that room, but it did nothing to help. Instead, I went to one end, I turned back to the other end, before turning again. My fists opened and closed at my sides and it took everything in me to not smash something right now. Added everything I'd been through, I had come home with hope burning inside me. For the first time in weeks, I hadn't been carrying bad news.Professor Hawthorne's discovery had changed everything. Someone had altered the legislation and someone had manipulated the law itself.We weren't chasing a fantasy anymore, we had evidence. Real evidence that could upturn whatever Yvie had up her sle
Caspian The second I stepped into the kitchen, the bond turned vicious. It wasn't angry as usual, this one was worse. It felt desperate. It hit me all at once, sharp enough to make my chest tighten painfully as my gaze landed on Daisy standing beside Octavian with a mug cradled between her han
Daisy The doors opened slowly, and the sound alone was enough to make my stomach twist. Heavy wood dragged against polished floors, the echo stretching far too long, far too loud, like it was announcing something final.Like it was announcing me.Two guards stepped forward, one on each side, the
Daisy The palace was in controlled chaos, and for the life of me, I didn't know what to think of it. Servants rushed through the corridors with bolts of black silk and silver threaded veils draped over their arms, while guards stood straighter when I passed, bowing low enough that their forehea
FourDaisy The clearing had gone so quiet I could hear my own pulse in my ears.“I want her.” Even in a million years,I never thought I'd hear those words,not from Nathan, and definitely not from the Greek god in human form; Caspian.His voice didn’t need to be loud. It carried anyway, low, contr







