ere colder than any wint

use of th

se of

idn't

't touc

even ackno

an object, bought,

ores into her hands, slamming doors in her face. Emilia couldn't help but wonde

g, slipping through her fingers like sand. She'd wake up and stare at the ceiling,

le word since he slammed t

summoned

s of him, passing through hallways, giving commands in low, lethal tones, sitting in silence

ore than the marble

She was his slave. S

greenhouse, how his touch had trembled with restraint when she

s a man beneat

was all

. No softness. No secre

i was carved

a shadow, a silent possession. She ha

be that was

her so completely she'd f

d in the bathroom and held her head high

had kil

t was left

*

lways been hi

lence, it w

n his head l

hoing in that hallway, soft and

ok in her eyes when he to

neces

to be

he saw. And he would rather burn

lass like veins of silver. Below, the estate was quiet. The guards had

d in two days. Not since

shut the door

too, was

The flicker of defiance. Of belief. She

n't affo

human. Not

ngs he had done a

rink. The liquor bit into his throat, but it didn't b

ook at him like that. D

ant her

ignore

ded

that kindness would not be repeated. That whateve

ior, something inside him twisted

e moved now, smal

r eyes nev

air at the d

in on herself li

t was the poin

ak

dn't try to

o survive without nee

too hard on the desk, the sound

ted t

very time he saw her walking past. Hated the

the

hadn't des

had to b

e was not

s a w

me him. She couldn't be. Because the moment sh

en she

, she wo

n't allo

cked the

the dis

rough orders, when a

l, when her spirit finally started to dul

buried far deeper

shoved

ade his

ved in now. Because that was the

e wors

w if he could prot