ering rage. Luna surveyed the room, her eyes lingering on the gold-leafed books and

mpatience. "Speak your terms," he snapped, "but do not be fo

lvet of the wedding dress rustling wi

was mentioned in memories that did not b

f she had grown a second head. Then, a choked sound, h

s fist on the desk. "That's more than th

the price for my freedom, my future, and quite pos

ce Regent. Your precious daughter, terrified and resentful. You will have a miserable daughter, an angry Prince R

hite. He was a man accustomed to power, but this g

her tone laced with casual curiosity, "I have seri

from his chair, his eyes wide with a flicker of genui

more. It was a fact. She filed the information away. It was a useful tool f

ched behind his back, a caged animal. Th

She picked up a green apple from a fruit bowl and took a c

"Fine," he ground out through clenched teeth. "You will have your

ng another bite of the apple. "Th

sputtered that it was impossible to ga

ing something to a child. "A bank draft. Stam

good as gold, and he couldn't default on it with

write. The scratching of the quill was the only sound in the room. He stamp

ly, then folded it and tucked it into a h

girl who had been assigned to her upon her arrival. Ce

nd handed it to the girl. She leaned in and whisp

d. Luna's mind worked so quickly that in the short exchange with Celeste and the servant's reply, she co

tightening in his stomach. He had a terrible

gloom of Hawthorne Castle, a

onotone, devoid of emotion. "The

houetted against the weak light of a dying fire. Only the glin

w, rasping sound, like stones grin

he one abandoned in the c

sound was the crackle and po

hamber. It was a cold, unsettling s

laced with a chilling mix of amusement and malice.