Serena's POV"Before midnight," I repeated, staring at my phone until the screen blurred. "He wants Daniel at the old council chamber before midnight.""And he's using your mother to get him there," Adrian said.Daniel leaned against the wall, his injured shoulder held close. "Then we don't go."I whipped around. "You can't be serious.""Completely. Alistair has tried to kill me, frame me, and ship me off to a private security facility. Now he's dangling your mother to make you deliver me gift-wrapped.""He never said he wanted me to bring you.""He didn't have to. He knows you'll come running."The words hurt because they were true. My mother had been gone so long that hearing her voice still felt like a dream. I had grieved her for years, and now that I knew she was alive, the first thing she'd given me was another warning, another secret, another reason to be afraid.I couldn't abandon her. I couldn't sacrifice Daniel, either."There's another way," Nadia said quietly.We turned. S
Last Updated : 2026-10-14 Read more