bride of vengeance
Beneath the portrait, a bounty amount was listed, staggeringly large, followed by two words that made my blood run cold.
*Dead or alive.*
I forced my expression to remain neutral, drawing on reserves of discipline I hadn't needed to summon in years, even as every instinct screamed at me to calculate exits, weapons, the fastest path out of this room and this palace entirely. Somewhere beneath the calm mask I'd built, a much younger version of myself the girl who had knelt beside her parents' bodies and sworn an oath in a voice that hadn't yet learned to stay steady was screaming that this was how it ended. Not with revenge. Not with answers. With a locked room and a piece of paper that knew h