Ashes Of Betrayal

like stars, bathing the crowd of nobles who had come to celebrate her engagement in a warming light. At the middle of it, in her ivory gown th

dered with storm-cloud-colored eyes and a smile that could melt the frost off a mountain. But tonight, his touch felt far away, his laughter empty. Evie told herse

is voice low and warm, but there was

g another grin. "It's not every day tha

ou'll be a lovely queen," he said, though it sounded

something was wrong. The whispers in the court, the way her stepmother's lips would curl wryly at the corners

aking into her thoughts. "I hav

pped a beat.

guards strode in, shining like a dozen stars in the light. The music stopped

e ringing in the hall, "you are under

round her, hands calloused as they snatched her arms. The nobles gasped and began whispering amongst themselves as

a mask of ice, and his stormy gaze was cold without a hint of the warmth that

id, toneless. "But the e

again, her voice shak

ried a sealed letter, stamped with the crest of the kingdom. "This," she said, her tone thick with f

cold. "That's a l

im off, his tone curt. "You've

blings in the crowd, Cassian smirking, Isolde refusing to look at Feb, and Lucien staring

her like a cloak. Kael's cold eyes, Seraphine's triumphant smile, the silence o

r. Her dress was rent and marred and her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. As the darkness closed in around her, the

ried on her cheeks, one thought planted itself in her f

of here, I will