y door closed, she

mily's elder cousins. They blocked her path. Her father emerged from

d her t

e of sorrowful concern. "You are being too emotio

her silence a wall

ure of the Beaumonts!" her father

and reedy. "To be connected to the Sterl

teful that they wish to make me a mistress, so my

your brother, Eleonora. Arthur's admission to the Royal Knight's Ac

They were using Arth

ace. "He also requires capital to secure a better position in the army. Yo

of the puzzle cl

like vultures, their eyes fixed on her mother's fortune. They wanted to sell

amily. It was a

, the Carlisles, held a grudge against her from eight yea

so overwhelming, that it would c

simply looked at them,

." She pushed past her uncle,

chilling finality in her voice

room, she lo

d the false bottom. Beneath it lay the deeds a

he distant spires of the capital. She looked

werful enough to make the Sterl

was singula

e Alaric

as ruthless, cold, and desperately in

omed in her mind. She would use her entire fortu

unassailable tit

of Van

imple but respectable dress for me. And the carr

the unshakeable resolve in her m

was the desperate, dangerous light o