I didn't sleep that night.The slashed portrait stayed in my mind. The woman in the blue dress had looked familiar. I'd seen her face before—in the Hall of Echoes, pressed against the stone, her mouth open in a silent scream. Iselda. The healer from the Black Forest. The one who poisoned a village.Margot had chosen her specifically. A message. A reminder that she knew the names and faces of Kael's sins better than anyone.I lay in the guest bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the estate breathe around me. Somewhere deep in the walls, I heard faint scratching. Like fingernails on old wood. It stopped when I held my breath. Started again when I exhaled.She's watching you.I didn't know if the thought was mine or Margot's anymore.---Dawn came gray and cold.I found Kael in the dead garden.He stood at the edge of the fountain, staring down at something in the stagnant water. His back was to me, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. The way his hands were curled at his s
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