KNOX’S POV“Knox—” It comes out strained.“I told you that one day you’d be free of this house,” I say. “That you’d go out into the world, and it would finally see how clever you are, and it would be sorry it ever tried to make you small. That you wouldn’t have to work twice as hard to be worthy.” I hold her wet, furious gaze. “I meant it then, Hale. I mean it now. That’s what this is. It’s a punishment. It’s not a banishment. This house—” I gesture at it, the walls, the shelves, the grandmother’s crowded things “—this house is another linen press. A beautiful one. The most comfortable one in the world. You finally have what you always wanted: their respect. They don’t whisper about ‘Creepy Hale’ anymore; they bow to the former Lady of the house. I know exactly how intoxicating that tastes, and I know you’d burn the world down before you ever go back to being a joke. But you have spent your whole life being Knox Volkov’s cousin, who runs the house. And you are so much more than that;
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