LOGINIt might have been laughable, had circumstances not been so… sad.“So your parents took it badly, I imagine,” I pointed out.Callum huffed and looked into his bottle. “My dad beat the shit out of me.”I pulled my head back. “He what?”Wordlessly, Callum turned, pulling his shirt up to reveal his bac
Liora’s POVI just barely made it into the parking space before the car let out one final groan, then sputtered to a stop, rocking back and forth on the wheels.“Sorry about that, girl,” I said, patting the steering wheel. “That was a lot more driving in one day than I anticipated.”Shirley almost s
“Twenty lashes,” he said. “We’ll see if you change your mind then.”I grit my teeth. “I don’t have to put up with this anymore.”“Would you rather take it, or would you prefer if that little wolfless whore of yours took it instead?”The moment he said those words, I felt all the blood drain from my
Callum’s POVMy father’s shadow darkened the room.There was a time in my life when my father’s presence seemed enormous and all-consuming, like a black hole filling any space he entered. When I was a child, I remembered thinking that he was big enough to reach the moon, or to blot out the sun.I’d
“The ones at the top of the list are our recommended ones,” my father added before I could say anything. “But ultimately, dear, it’s up to you.”I quirked a brow and opened the folder. There were over a dozen names on the list, along with small black-and-white headshots of each bachelor and which pa
Liora’s POVWhen I returned to the palace, I honestly expected to find that half of it had burned down in some freak fire, or that someone was dead.I didn’t find any of that.The palace was as peaceful as ever, quiet and cheerfully lit, the yellow porch lights illuminating the melting snow. The but
I stayed quiet. The silence stretched.“I’m wearing a lace set you’d like,” she added, voice low, teasing. “It’s lonely in this room without you. And no one will be here until morning...”“Bianca.”“Mm?”“That’s not going to work.”There was a pause, just long enough to catch the strain in her breat
He was…clearly avoiding me.And doing a stunningly good job at it.The whispers followed me everywhere, snide comments, stifled laughter, and more than one accusation that I had somehow seduced him into chaos and was getting what I deserved. Bianca, of course, was thriving. Her corner of the cafeter
LioraThe rain didn’t bother me.Mia would shrink away from it, try to avoid the frizz or the cold or the mud. But I always would something oddly comforting about the way it blurred the world a little. Like everything was smudged in watercolor, and if you stared long enough, nothing really looked th
LioraPaper hit the side of my head with a satisfying thwack.I simply raised the book a little higher above my skull, like a makeshift shield against flying insults and cafeteria napkins. Mia walked beside me, her jaw clenched, her eyes already scanning the hallway like she might chuck a binder at







