HE HEIR WHO C

s chamber erupted in viole

ed, the sound of bodies moving with purpose. Guards. Footsteps. Someone de

ri

i

e that had rejected her less than twenty-four hou

ithout think

this

amed at her to open it, to demand answers, to understand h

, ple

ow. Liam Draven didn't b

handle when a voice cu

trespa

a

re dropped an

's voice cracked with somethin

did," Kael

sly. But she understood what he meant-she'd walked in

's a

's shout made the doo

k, her hand fall

ease. Tal

was the voice of the man she'd believed in for thre

allowe

ethal. "If she wanted to see

at comes right befor

lated this,

y even through the door. Not an

uietly. "Next words you s

esperate sound. "She wa

in

cherished. Not

ection as her not being enough. But the truth was crueler-he'd treated her like

shift inside her. N

ething that made every guar

claim what you discarded just because

First slow, then fast

ss in the dark cham

pened with

side and closed

d immediately. "You wanted him

im to leave. The fact that he had t

r, and Aria realiz

d to teach me?" she asked, he

et isn't r

d like a blade

egretted hurting her when it mattered. The rejection had only be

htened. "Why does

't soften. But s

. That was your mistak

ind she'd held back since the gathering ground becaus

how to stop,"

n them. His hand found her arm-

said. "The bond rupture alone does that. Add b

mposure f

ething that was never real, hours of public humiliation, the whiplash of bei

d steady, anchoring her to something soli

is against you her

d up at hi

private isn't weakn

rejected Luna, but the messy, gasping kind of so

words or false reassurance. He just stood there, s

at was exactly

ior with

et her break without tur