Kram

light was absolute. My expression wa

roat under my fingers lingered-a foreign sensation

dy running to our father, sp

they wanted to push me into the abyss, I would claw my

ox on my nightstand. It was the only thing

alled "hunting accident." A convenient fal

d my neck, I pulled a small, tarnished key. The lock click

Just a few faded, leather-bound diari

t was a letter written in my mother's elegant, flowing scri

's resources and her own strength to help my

ashamed of her and began an affai

eading this, I am gone. Do not trust Gordon. Do not tru

page, smearing the ink. My heart broke for my mother.

es of a life where I held power not in blo

wo lif

love with my betrothed, Alpha Darren Contreras. But Gordon Kramer, swayed by Concetta's mal

ating grief, the humiliation, and the sight of my siste

die. During the seven days I lay in a coma, my soul travel

ogically superior society allowed me to graduate from the top Imperial Medical

self entirely into the work of saving lives, mastering the complex

hed a level that comman

ife there, the patients I had cured bestowed u

ght my journey had ended. Yet, I woke up back in the werew

hing to me now. But my lingering resentme

econd chance, I would use it

other, I would take back piece by piece. Those who

merciful heart. But that mercy wou

th the diaries, and locked the box. This box wou

ed up, my reflection in the

ind the eyes, the soul of a surgeon who had stared d

ayers. The last face was one I'd never seen, only imagined:

survival forced upon me by the council. But it was

to, but his broken body was a patient

rink of death by my hand, would be the sharpest bla

ast of all powerful men. This was a transaction. M

r. A maid's voice, timid. "Miss, the Alp

heir magic. Gordon was read

tomach as I stood up. But I quickly smoothed my dress, my expression shifting, melting

t, my voice soft and plia